A population wishing to age in the comfort of their own home

By 2026, the provincial government estimates 26 per cent of the population of Newfoundland and Labrador will be aged 65-plus

Ev Boland and her sister, Lynn Curran, are not worried about the future of healthcare in the province. Both say they would be okay staying in their communities on the Southern Shore when they need care. Victoria Battcock/Kicker.

Victoria Battcock Kicker

The walls of Shirley Kenny’s home in Calvert are arrayed with memories including family photos and crafts made by her grandchildren.

She takes a sip of her hot tea and looks across Calvert Bay through her living room window. The small community of just over 200 people is situated 73 kilometres south of St. John’s.

She doesn’t look forward to having to say goodbye to her hometown someday.

“I’d like to believe I will never have to think about leaving here,” said Kenny, who is 67. “Sure, I can get a home care worker.”

Kenny is not the only one that feels this way. The increase in the province’s retirement-age people means an increase in the number of people in long-term care. Many face moving into a long-term care facility, but they are connected to where they live.

By 2026, the provincial government estimates, 26 per cent of the population of Newfoundland and Labrador will be aged 65-plus, up from 17.8 per cent in 2014.

Nothing can be done about aging or the time that passes by, but something can be done to prevent the aging population from having their lives cut short or having little to no quality of life.

Educating up-and-coming seniors to practise proper health and wellness routines is something SeniorsNL is continuing to do for communities across the province.

The organization offers information and referral services to provide easy ways for seniors to be able to connect with the older population.

In the annual SeniorsNL report for 2018, the organization says it received 3,203 healthcare inquiries from seniors last year, almost 30 per cent more than the previous year. These inquiries included phone calls regarding issues called in by seniors.

According to the report, seniors wanted to know about things such as home support, residential snow clearing and transportation to medical appointments.

Accounting for almost 20 per cent of all data collected were “Daily Living” inquiries. These inquiries are specifically focused on being able to allow seniors to stay in their own homes without discomfort.

For many seniors on the Southern Shore, staying in their homes as they age is exactly what they want to do. When asked why she would want to stay at home rather than move into a long-term care facility or “old-age home,” Shirley Kenny says her only reason is that her home is her home.

Kenny takes a long pause, opens her arms and looks around her kitchen. She says thinking about leaving would be a shame.

'We'd board up the windows and doors and stare once more at an empty shore.' Like lyrics from the Bob Porter song, Ghost in the Fog, many houses in Calvert are now vacant because owners have passed or moved to urban centres. Victoria Battcock/Kicker

'Just that extra twenty minutes to get to an appointment could turn them away'

When it comes to healthcare, it takes money and resources to bring security into communities. To provide greater security, Eastern Health offers programs and funding in many communities on the Avalon Peninsula.

Some of the funding is provided for therapeutic and professional services.

This sector of health care includes hiring therapists and physiotherapists such as employees at Fresh Health and Wellness in Bay Bulls, about 32 kilometres south of St. John’s

Fresh Health and Wellness is a clinic that has offered services such as massage therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, naturopathy and exercise programs for the past two years.

Sheena Tremblett, an employee at the clinic, says the business is an asset to the community, especially location-wise.

“We have people [who] come down from Trepassey or further away that probably would not want to drive to St. John’s for an appointment,” Tremblett said.

Tremblett adds that mobility issues do arise from aging in general, and the business does serve a lot of the aging population.

“Some people may be almost home-ridden but this location makes it possible for them to come by,” she said.

The clinic does see a lot of people with issues that came about from “just getting old.” Fresh Health and Wellness wants to help ease the pain of aging and get people “living again.”

“We get them back to moving again,” she said. “If you’re in constant pain, you’re not living and you’re not happy.”

Another important sector aimed at maintaining a high quality of life for seniors is home care.

Sheena Tremblett works at the newly opened health facility in Bay Bulls. The convenience and location makes seniors more likely to take care of their health through the appointments offered at the centre. Victoria Battcock/Kicker

Expanding for an aging population

Quality Home Care Service in Ferryland is locally owned and operated Diane Costello at her home on Sonny Hill. The office, run by four women, keeps things in line for the home workers that service the 146-kilometre stretch from St. Shott’s to Bay Bulls.

Office manager Aundrea O’Leary says the company’s goal is to help seniors stay at home as long as possible.

“We do not want to take away independence,” she says.

Quality Home Care Service is expanding and moving out of owner Dianne Costello’s home to its own property and business infrastructure.

O’Leary says the expansion has a lot to do with “an aging population.”

Part of home care is making people feel comfortable. The problem arises, however, when a person is in need of what Eastern Health describes as Level 3 or 4 care.

These levels of care can be given only in what the public knows as “nursing homes.” Eastern Health describes them as a publicly funded facilities that offer care to folks who need moderate to full assistance in daily life.

In this case, seniors need to move out of their communities because of discomfort at home – an aging person’s nightmare.

Ev Boland of Calvert, worked as a nurse for years and is well-known in her community and surrounding areas. She does agree that home care is a comfortable living option, but only if a small amount of care is needed. She believes home care would be ideal if it were a 24-hour service.

Long term care facilities are not a top choice for seniors in rural communities. Sometimes they are the only option based on level of care. Source: N.L. Government.

Another goal of Quality Home Care Services is being able to keep seniors active in the community.

“A lot of seniors I know don’t drive, so I think for up our way, we need someone to be able to pick things up for people,” Boland said.

Hiring more nurse practitioners would improve the way the community health care system works, says Boland.

“A nurse practitioner could do things like check sugars and blood pressure and deliver prescription refills,” she said. “Why should people have to go all the way to a doctor for those things?”

Home care workers cook, clean and care for people. It is common for more than one worker to be assigned to a home on a given day. Victoria Battcock/Kicker

Community contribution

Another secret to “staying young” is staying involved in communities, says Boland.

She says there are still things that seniors can find to do in their communities even though they are not in a big city.

Groups like the 50 Plus Club in Calvert offer weekly events such as bingo and other gatherings that give seniors an opportunity to participate in their communities. Being able to keep up with hobbies and stay “out-and-about” means a lot to a senior, says Boland.

“As long as we are still healthy and cared for, we can go to those things and stay around for another while,” she said.

She says it is known that people on the Southern Shore want to stay in their communities for the rest of their lives.

“That’s where their friends are, that’s where they reared their families and that’s where they’re used to living,” said Boland.

“I like to think that’s where they’d like to end their days.”