Dennis Hanagan –
Seniors at Diana Belshaw’s condo building in the Distillery District were a socially active group and that served them well for a time. But after a while they decided they wanted activities and social services with a little more structure. So they became a NORC.
NORC is the acronym for Naturally Occurring Retirement Community where seniors are supported with organized health and social programs all in one place close to their homes.
The NORC at Belshaw’s Parliament Street building started out just for that building. But over time it became obvious other condos in the vicinity also had large senior populations. That gave the Parliament group an idea.
They consulted seniors in the other buildings and it was agreed – their vertical NORC would become a horizontal neighbourhood NORC.
“We felt that by putting all the seniors in the various buildings together we would be able to offer more services to people. We’d be able to create more of a synergy looking at senior supports,” says Belshaw, who serves on her NORCs all-volunteer steering committee.
They took their idea to WoodGreen Community Services and the NORC Innovation Centre at University Health Network. “They leapt at it,” says Belshaw.
Low-impact exercise classes funded with a WoodGreen grant followed, along with social get-togethers and co-walking days. Lunch-and-learn sessions started with guest speakers giving presentations about nutrition, how to avoid fraud and how to access social services. A Men’s Shed began where just older men socialize together.
“The number of people who are involved in our activities is growing and we’re finding that we are often oversubscribed for things that we offer. We can’t get everyone in,” says Belshaw.
She says having a permanent organizer would be helpful as the Distillery NORC tries to find more space for its activities. Space for woodworking would be very welcome, says Belshaw. “Finding those spaces and somebody to organize it are really important and that’s one of things we’re working on,” says Belshaw.
“We’re looking for money, constantly. Our goal would be to have someone who can organize,” says Belshaw. “We’re all volunteers and it’s a lot of work.”
Many older adults require a PSW (Personal Support Worker). Belshaw says it’s important to seniors that they have a PSW they can get to know. She told of an older woman who often got a different worker “and that for a person who perhaps has dementia or is very vulnerable can be really unsettling … It’s really important to have continuity of care.”
Belshaw would like government to pay better attention to what older adults are saying about aging. She wants more effort made to keep older adults out of nursing homes, long-term care and emergency departments. “What we’re proposing and hoping for will actually lead to savings for the public purse,” says Belshaw.
“I want the government to smarten up and listen … hear what we need and really, really start to create a supportive network that will actually meet our needs.”
For the time being, Belshaw is glad to be part of her NORC. She says it keeps her active which is important to her. “It also gives me hope for the future that as long as I’m physically and mentally able to live independently I’ll be able to live at home,” she says.
