May 30, 2019: Club ownership meeting and Presentations from the Family Services (Rotary House).
Head Table: Our President Paul Roulston, invites all major chairperson, to join him at the head table.
Today at Rotary: There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that the onset of the “silver tsunami” poses a significant and costly challenge to governments, communities and families. As the “boomer” demographic advances into full retirement age, it is inevitable that health and social issues facing seniors will increase concomitantly.
Many believe that providing services which support seniors staying in their own homes, rather than moving to an assisted living facility, is a big part of the solution. Ensuring that seniors can live their lives with dignity, independence and personal choice will promote better mental health, integrated communities and reduce costs.
Surveys have shown that 90% of seniors would like to remain in their own homes and with 20% of the population of Perth being over 65, that is a sizable number of seniors. Don Ewart, the owner of Better Ways for Seniors, an private-sector organization with the mission of helping seniors stay in their homes as long as possible, by providing a variety of non-medical and hard-to-find services, spoke on addressing that desire of seniors.
Mr. Ewart identified daily functions like food prep, personal care, transportation, home maintenance, companionship and social encouragement as among the services most requested. He stressed that services customized to actual individual needs and timing and consistency in service provider personnel are crucial elements to effective care plans for seniors. He commented that publically funded service providers often have considerable difficulty in in assigning staff consistently to individuals and most often can only provide a limited range of services which closely bound up in rules and regulations.
He also stressed the need for clear and frequent communications between service providers, clients and family. Seniors need to be aware and conversant with the services, informed about changes in services and comfortable with costs and effectiveness.
Mr. Ewart concluded with some good news particularly that attitudes towards the importance of improved seniors care were shifting to greater acceptance; that the possibilities of increased funding were being discussed; and that partnering between the public and private sectors was also more common. He also stressed his feeling that the removal of stigma attached to aging and seniors care and more actively listening to seniors would go far in helping those who, for reasons of pride, denial, fear or lack of knowledge, fail to get the care and support that they need.
Rotarians believe in a world that is fair and beneficial for all and, as many of us are actually seniors ourselves, we can be in the vanguard of advocating for effective care services, and indeed we are doing that with our support of the Stratford Perth Rotary Hospice.
Your imperturbable Scribbler,
Scribe: Guy Chadsey
The Paul Harris Fellowship Award: Roger Black introduced Rotarian Alex Smith who was presented with his second Paul Harris Fellowship Award.
Rotary Announcements
- Roger Black presented a dedication to his friend and Rotarian Bill Cozyn, on his passing.
- Peter Maranger introduced both Blake Strickland and Joshua Bossence from St. Micahels Catholic Secondary School. Both students participated in the DECA programme, where they competed in the 1st event in Waterloo; being successful they went onto Provincial in Toronto; and again, were successful and went to International in Orlando Florida where they were in the top 20.
Guests: Blake Strickland St. Michaels Catholic Secondary School; Joshua Bossence, St. Michaels Catholic Secondary School.
Foundation Draw: Donated by Anonymous, and won by Coleen Devine
Make-ups: No report.
May’s Attendance Committee: Gord Steed (I/C), Ed Dujlovic, Kevin Nonomura, Mimi Price, Katherine Hahn, Colleen Brown, Wendy Wilkinson, Steve Weed.
June’s Attendance Committee: Dave Scott (I/C), Gary Lingard, Paul Siberry, Pat Shewen, Doug Page, Pat Feryn, Jerry McEwin, Lisa Breault, Kevin Silver.
