OSOYOOS TIMES-November 3, 2010

By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times

The Community Action for Seniors Independence (CASI) program can now call the Osoyoos Seniors Centre home base.
At their annual general meeting on Oct. 27, centre members voted overwhelmingly in favour of making the Osoyoos Seniors Centre Association the lead agency supporting the program.
CASI is a program created by the United Way of the Lower Mainland and the provincial Healthy Living and Sport Ministry’s Seniors Healthy Living Secretariat.
Its goal is to help seniors live in their homes for as long as possible.
Osoyoos was one of five B.C. communities chosen to participate in a CASI pilot project and the local focus is to provide transportation and support services to seniors living in town and the surrounding rural area.
Last fall, two meetings were held in Osoyoos between the program’s provincial administrators and local community groups, the seniors centre and local churches.
As a result of those meetings, a working group for Osoyoos was formed in the spring to develop a local program of services for seniors.
A survey asking local residents what services are most needed for area seniors was also conducted last fall and transportation was identified as one of the greater needs since there is no public transportation here and many seniors have difficulties getting out for groceries or to appointments.
The working group wants to establish a phone number that seniors can call when they need a ride or want some light house work done at their home.
The group is also working with local schools and community groups to develop a roster of volunteers to provide such services and anyone from the community is welcome to volunteer.
Volunteers will have to undergo a police background check and other volunteer duties will include administrative tasks such as answering phones and greeting clients.
The group acting as the lead agency supporting the local CASI program must be registered as a charitable organization, which the centre is, and has to provide office space for the program’s local coordinators to work out of.
The seniors centre’s treasurer, Mike Truchan, will also be responsible for taking care of the program’s accounts but no seniors centre money will be used to offset CASI expenses.
Out of the 50 members gathered for the Oct. 27 meeting, only one voted against a motion to have the Osoyoos Seniors Centre Association act as the program’s lead agency.
Tracy St. Claire, a coordinator with the United Way of the Central and South Okanagan Similkameen, told the gathering that the Seniors Healthy Living Secretariat and the United Way of the Lower Mainland has provided the local program with a grant of $144,000 to be used over 18 months.
She added that the local program intends to buy a van in the next month or two that could take seniors on outings such as trips to the grocery store or other appointments.
About $50,000 of the grant would go towards the purchase of the vehicle.
Volunteers would go along on the outings to help with tasks such as putting groceries away and St. Claire said the outings could be social in nature where seniors could run their errands and then have a coffee together.
Naga Terada, who is on the local working group and is also the second vice-president of the seniors centre, said CASI hopes to buy a van that would be accessible for up to two wheelchairs and carry nearly 10 people.
To drive the bus, a volunteer would need a Class 4 restricted licence.
St. Claire said getting someone licensed to drive the van is included in the local program’s budget.
Before the van is purchased, however, the local program will be relying on volunteers with their own vehicles to drive seniors around.
The rest of the $144,000 grant would go towards the salaries of the program’s two coordinators, who are both on six-month contracts, as well as capital and administration expenses and to cover liability costs.
Seniors who take advantage of services offered through the local program will have to pay, St. Claire said.
Rides will likely cost $2, she added, and seniors would have to pay people for services such as housekeeping and snow-shovelling.
One centre member present at the meeting said some seniors may not be able to afford such services and added that the program appeared to be a way for the provincial government to offload services that it previously provided for seniors to community groups.
St. Claire responded that the services the local program wants to provide weren’t available in the community anyway and the program has no interest in becoming a “conduit” for such offloading.
Because this is a pilot project, she added, it’s unknown what money will be available for services down the road but the local group will be applying for other grants.
Another centre member asked when the program would be ready to establish a client base of seniors, to which St. Claire responded “Today.”
For more information, contact Shauna Hill, the program’s local coordinator, at 250-495-6925.
[email protected]