New guide aims to support seniors

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This article was published 06/01/2022 (1539 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Approximately 14 months after Age Friendly Brandon launched its phone line designed to help local seniors, the organization has partnered with two other groups to create a new tool.

In partnership with Seniors for Seniors Co-op and Prairie Oasis Senior Centre, Age Friendly Brandon is releasing the “Brandon Seniors Resource Guide.”

At 76 pages long, the booklet contains contact information for local resources seniors may find useful in several categories, including emergency services, personal care services, home maintenance, health services, transportation, housing, educational opportunities, activities and more.

The end of the booklet also features a section containing information on how to maintain physical and emotional health as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on.

According to Johanna Leseho, a member of the Brandon Age Friendly subcommittee on respect and social inclusion, and one of the authors of the guide, inspiration for the tool came from a document available in Winnipeg that fellow subcommittee member Nancy Newall had noticed.

In fact, the section on pandemic health and well-being was reprinted from that original guide with permission from the original creators.

“Did we get [several] people saying ‘we could really use a resource guide?’” Leseho said. “No. Did we ask around? Yes. I live in a seniors co-op and we were trying to decide what to do, how to do it and what format. I actually took some different formats and showed it to a number of people in my building to get some feedback from them … the feedback I got from people was ‘oh, this is going to be really handy.’”

Rob Lavin, the executive director of Seniors for Seniors, said there are copies of the resource guide available for pick up at his organization’s headquarters at 311 Park Ave. East as well as at Prairie Oasis. Additional copies will be distributed to other locations around town soon.

“I’ll be taking some to ACC, Brandon University, the Legion and the [Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans],” he said. “I know they are going to be distributed at some of the personal care homes and stuff like that.”

Lavin said the document targets the 55-plus demographic.

The Age Friendly committee’s revamped website isn’t yet online, but the resource guide can be found at brandon.ca/images/agefriendly/resource-guide.pdf.

The guide is a first edition. Both Lavin and Leseho stressed that there are likely some businesses or services that have been left out of the guide’s inaugural issue and the organizations involved are interested in improving and adding to it over time.

“We tried to get everybody included, but of course, we can’t,” Leseho said. “But let us know if you should be in there. We don’t want businesses to think we [are] promoting some but not others.”

Suggestions for additions or corrections can be made by contacting Lavin (rlavin@brandons4s.ca and 204-571-2052), Leseho (johanna.leseho@gmail.com), Amanda Fast at Prairie Oasis (Amanda.fast@oasis.ca and 204-727-6641) or Nancy Newall (newalln@brandonu.ca).

Seniors can also continue to call the Age Friendly telephone line at 204-729-2525.

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