Vancouver Foundation

Fall 2014

Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/398704

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 25 of 31

South Vancouver Seniors Hub p a g e 2 6 I V a n c o u v e r F o u n d a t i o n l F a l l 2 0 1 4 On a summer afternoon, about 20 elderly women are learn- ing how to dance the cha-cha-cha. ey've already done some tai chi, and later will sway back and forth to a CD of Hawaiian music – Don Ho singing "Tiny Bubbles." It's the Wednesday Seniors Shindig at South Vancouver Neighbourhood House. Belen Didulo, the gregarious 74-year-old Filipino-Canadian woman who organizes the weekly session, knows why it always draws a crowd. "As one of the ladies put it," says Didulo, "they'd rather be out than at home facing their walls." Social isolation is a problem for many metro Vancouver seniors, especially for immigrants who may feel isolated from mainstream Canadian culture. New medical research shows what Didulo understands intuitively: social contact is vital to the mental and physical health of elderly people. Didulo's two-hour dance shindig is just one spoke in the South Vancouver Seniors Hub, a network of activities and services for seniors based at several area community centres and co-ordinated by staff at South Vancouver Neighbourhood House. e Hub concept was created after various agencies concluded that funding for seniors' community programs is fragmented and unstable. e goal was to bring under one umbrella services provided at various community centres in South Vancouver. e Seniors Hub began in 2011 as a three-year pilot project funded by a grant from Vancouver Foundation as well as fi nancial support from the City of Vancouver, United Way and Vancouver Coastal Health. It was so successful that it is continuing as a perma- nent program in Vancouver and is being used as a model by other cities around the world looking to reach out to their local seniors. When Didulo was resting at home from treatment for thyroid cancer a few years ago, she became convinced that getting outside and becoming active would speed her recovery. "It's nice to be out. You can't stay idle. You have to dress up to get out rather than rot at home. [I] don't like that – it's bad for mental health." Didulo started the dance session three years ago when a few of her Filipino friends wanted some recreation during the week. e group now includes Caucasian, Chinese, European and South Asian women. Some of the dancers have a weak grasp of English and so often shift to the left when told to move to the right. Not that anybody minds – their dancing is all about human connection, not performance. e funders of the Seniors Hub believe that a new approach is needed to deal with the massive and imminent demographic chal- lenge of baby boomers entering old age. " ere was a general sense out there that we have to fi nd new ways to ensure that people have services, are able to age in place in their homes, and that their individual talents continue to be employed," says Karen Larcombe, executive director of South Vancouver Neighbourhood House. "Immigrant seniors face a lot of barriers – language and cultural barriers, transportation barriers – and are often isolated in their own homes." Immigrant seniors in South Vancouver are escaping loneliness and isolation through community activities aimed to engage and connect BY DOUG WARD | PHOTOS BRIAN HAWKES Senior & Social

Articles in this issue

view archives of Vancouver Foundation - Fall 2014