People and organizations behind an initiative trying to make Sarnia-Lambton more deliverable for seniors want older adults to start thinking about planning for aging in place the same way they might plan for retirement.
“We’re just trying to get the word out because people don’t know what they don’t know,” said Anita Trusler of Lambton public health.
Her comments come after a 761-person survey conducted last summer found fewer than a quarter of the 55-plus adult respondents and their caregivers were aware of programs and services for things like support groups, medical equipment, meal programs, and fitness and wellness programs .
The same survey results found people saying they need such supports to age at home for as long as possible instead of turning to nursing homes and other care facilities.
“We want to make sure people have some education,” said Trusler, comparing planning for aging at home to retirement planning. “When it comes to planning for your health needs, a lot of people aren’t prepared to look for that information, or search for that, until they’re in a crisis situation.”
Has 58-page Older Adult Care Pathway report published earlier this year, which includes the survey results, along with recommendations, has already resulted in more resource information added to agefriendlysarnialambton.caTrusler said, calling it the best available tool for people to navigate the local health, social services and recreational programming systems.
An older adult care pathway phone line, staffed seven days a week with volunteers to help answer questions and provide information, is also available at 519-336-3000.
Rather than rely on people to take the initiative, the Older Adult Care Pathway project partners, including the health unit, Age-Friendly Sarnia-Lambton and Lambton College’s research and innovation department, are asking primary health providers, like family doctors, to help refer people to the reference material.
“People also identify that their primary-care provider as their most trusted source of information,” Trusler said. “So if anyone is going to refer them to additional community supports, that’s the person they’re going to want to hear it from.”
Currently, Sarnia-Lambton’s population is about 21 per cent people 55 and older, she said, but that’s expected to grow to 32 per cent in the next 15 years.
“The biggest bulk of that shift is going to be people over the age of 75, who are going to need supports like housekeeping, like lawn and garden maintenance, like meal preparation, to be able to stay at home,” she said.
Building those additional supports is key, she said, while noting that work is also ongoing with the emerging health-care system transformation via the Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team.
Meanwhile, more research is needed, she added.
The study, funded with a $60,000 Inclusive Community grant from the Ontario Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility, wasn’t able to get as much qualitative input as hoped via interviews and focus groups amid COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Trusler said.
Eighteen one-on-one interviews were done as part of the project. The group has already applied for more funding to continue the work and conduct more interviews, she said.
“We’re actually currently recruiting more participants.”
Hopefully the extra information will also shed some light on why nearly nine in 10 said aging at home was a top consideration, but only two-thirds said they were confident existing systems will offer enough support, Trusler said.
“Are they not confident because they haven’t had to try to access those services, so they don’t really know what the experience is going to be like, or do they not have confidence because potentially they had a negative experience, or they ‘ve heard about a negative experience? she said.
“It’s a good baseline for us to have now that we can … as we start to get more supports in place in our community, we can look back and hopefully see that number change in the right direction.”
The Age Friendly Sarnia initiative began in 2015 and an action plan built on wide community consultation was completed in 2017, officials said in the report.
The care pathway project builds on that initiative, they said, including recently creating e-learning courses for businesses and service providers about how to be more age-friendly.
Other considerations include financial support and more transportation services, particularly for people in rural areas, the report stated, noting continued advocacy is planned.