Affordability and access to health care are two of the most persistent issues faced by older adults in Canada, according to the most recent National Institute on Ageing report.
And while a range of resources is available to address these issues, some seniors do not know how or where to find them.
Silvera for Seniors is a Calgary-based organization that has provided affordable housing to low- and middle-income seniors for more than 60 years.
For years, the non-profit supported its residents with social workers who addressed needs related to health, finances, transportation, and home care.
But after a major expansion in 2025 that brought in 500 new independent residents across eight buildings, Silvera realized its social workers were too limited to support its seniors.
In independent living, social workers cannot regularly monitor residents, meaning their need for support can go unnoticed.
To address this gap, Silvera introduced a “resident resource navigator” role in July 2025.
The position is designed to connect residents with social workers and help them access services while maintaining their independence.
Navigating barriers for seniors
Faduma Warsame is a navigator.
She describes her role as a bridge, helping residents connect with resources they didn’t even know existed.
An important part of Warsame’s job is helping older adults overcome and navigate barriers in awareness, accessibility or knowledge – especially technology.
“It’s pretty difficult, especially for seniors, to go out and look for these places. And it involves technology, which some of them aren’t savvy on that,” said Warsame. “You can’t apply physically anymore in the locations and that sort of normalcy stops a lot of seniors being able to access the programs that they are allowed to have.”
Navigators help older adults access financial resources, create budgets, file their taxes, find transportation around the city, and join community clubs.
“If there’s a resident that comes from their doctor and they say they need, say, a walker, but they don’t know how to go about it, I’m the person that will connect them to the places they need to go to,” said Warsame.
She describes herself as a “guidebook” for seniors at Silver, but most seniors in Calgary do not have guidebooks.
Challenges beyond awareness
According to the NIA’s 2025 survey, 39 per cent of older adults in Canada have just enough income to save, while 22 per cent report having inadequate income.
More than six in ten older adults report having access to a primary caregiver but have consistent challenges booking appointments and getting timely care.
These problems affect every aspect of their daily life. Inadequate income or poor health were often reported in NIA’s survey as barriers to social engagement and building social networks.
Finding help in a complex system
Calgary has a lot to offer to tackle these issues.
There’s Age-Friendly Calgary, the City of Calgary’s senior strategy to help seniors live well and age in place.
There are non-profit groups like Calgary Meals on Wheels that offer senior-specific programs addressing food insecurity, and community organizations such as the Calgary Association of Lifelong Learners that offer opportunities for education and social connection.
But finding these organizations and navigating these programs can be a struggle for older adults and a burden for their families or caregivers.
CALL’s president, Judy Hoad, says the organization has difficulty attracting new members because people don’t know about them.
“The majority was word of mouth,” she said. “Very few did a search on a website to find the website,” said Hoad.
At Silvera, Warsame says residents often don’t know what they can ask for help with.
She lets them know that help is always available.
Sandi Montford, senior manager of supportive living and campus operations at Silvera, says residents often miss out on the care they need due to a lack of knowledge about programs or hard-to-navigate systems.
Montford thinks the company’s navigator roles make sense as the next step to ensure that all the hard work that goes into creating and managing services for older adults is fully utilized as intended.
“If it’s the first time that you have to navigate a system to find support, it’s really difficult and people will give up easily and then not get the supports that they really need to be able to thrive,” Montford said.