ELK POINT – A community meeting organized by Ruth Vogel and Donna Hodgkinson to discuss senior supports and concerns drew far more seniors than the handful they predicted might attend.
Elk Point Seniors Recreation Centre was filled to the brim on Jan. 13 with seniors wanting to share their concerns with Town of Elk Point Mayor Parrish Tung, Town Coun. Wanda Cochrane, County of St. Paul Coun. Darrell Younghans, County Coun. Kevin Wirsta and Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul MLA Scott Cyr.
“It’s obviously important that seniors have a safe place to voice their concerns, and we’re not going to solve all these problems today, but it’s important to take this time and share the problems with those who can take them to the people who can solve them,” said Elk Point Economic Development Committee chair and Chamber of Commerce president Terri Hampson, who chaired the meeting.
Also in attendance were representatives of Caregivers Alberta, with executive director Darrel Gregory calling family caregivers “the shadow workforce. It’s not a journey you should have to face alone,” affecting the quality of life of the caregivers who help seniors to age in place. “It’s important for us to connect with small communities, and it’s time to set up programs, because caregivers are often not prepared when patients are discharged from hospital. We have caregiver coaches who can help address resources and our programs are financed by Alberta Health. We are also looking at ways to support Indigenous caregivers.”
“I’m here to listen,” MLA Cyr said. “I’ve been doing a lot to make sure the rural population is heard. There are a lot of programs in Edmonton and Calgary for seniors that aren’t available in the rural communities, and I take that very seriously. We have to have services fro the baby boomers as they age, I want to see enough lodge space to fill the need.” The province “has fallen short on access to healthcare. There’s a shortage of doctors for Elk Point, and you have a council that does care. I’m very thankful for Elk Point.”
Rural crime and utility bills were also on his radar, he said.
“The RCMP are doing their job, but (the courts) don’t keep the criminals in jail. Utility bills are out of hand. I’m working with Minister Neudorf on that. Ours are two to three times those of Calgary and Edmonton. When we took coal off, and it was the cheapest and most efficient fuel source for power generation, the response was to go with solar and wind, where you have to pay to get the grid, and the cities are not shouldering the cost. The energy is the smallest part of the bills and distribution the largest.”
Then it was the seniors’ turn to express their concerns, starting with the restructuring of Alberta Health Services and the shortage of doctors. Cyr recalled that it took six months for one hospital to decide if they wanted another RN “and six more months to hire one. Decisions get put on the back burner.”
Mayor Tung thanked Cyr and said, “We may have a doctor coming. When he comes for a site visit, we’ll be taking him and his family to tour the town. I’m hopeful to have good news, and I have to say we appreciate our doctors. They work 24 hours three days a week and have 800 patients on file, doctors in other places have 500.”
“Most doctors today want to work three quarters of the time," Cyr noted. “Old doctors worked time and a half. Alberta is opening up to training more nurse practitioners, but we can’t train them fast enough.”
A comment on rural crime, including the egging/vandalism incidents that happened in town, asked if an Alberta police force would be more involved in towns. Cyr replied that the issue is that the RCMP “arrest the same people 100 times, the same 15 people do 90 per cent of the crimes. Let’s put them in jail."
Elk Point EMS golf tournaments raised a significant amount of money to go toward an enclosed ambulance bay at the healthcare centre, “But we were turned down,” Jonny Nielsen reported, with Cyr saying AHS “falls short in a lot of ways. That wasn’t on my radar, and I will look into it, it seems like a reasonable ask.”
Other concerns expressed ranged from the use of the Town and County owned handi-bus for all senior transportation, to the inability for staff at Heritage Lodge to be allowed help a fallen resident to their feet or to push a wheelchair over to the healthcare centre, along with long waiting lists for long-term care accommodation and patient advocacy were also discussed at length. Transporting seniors to Edmonton for doctor appointments and the need to have someone with them at the appointments who is allowed to hear the details, was also brought up.
A task force that would “do a deep dive” into seniors’ issues and take the results to the Legislature was also suggested.
Clifton Cross of Frog Lake gave a brief rundown of difficulties seniors from that area face, including difficulty accessing prescription refills, since many do not drive. He feels there are ways Frog Lake may be able to help with issues such as funding for the ambulance bay, and said Frog Lake is pleased to be working with the Town on other major endeavours.
St. Paul Regional FCSS’ Elk Point programmer Gwen Pierce outlined supports for Elk Point and district seniors, including Meals on Wheels, Snow Angels volunteers, Seniors Week luncheon, income tax preparation and the annual Seniors Festival, which Wanda Cochrane indicated she hopes to see alternated between Elk Point and St. Paul in the future.
Cochrane, Tung, Younghans, Wirsta and Cyr all offered closing remarks, before hostesses Vogel and Hodgkinson came forward to thank all who attended, Hodgkinson announcing her proposal for a seniors advocacy committee and inviting those interested to sign up for it,
“Let’s make Elk Point the right place for a senior to be," said Vogel.
