KEITH LACEY
Muriel Heyward, who has lived at the Mariposa Gardens retirement residence since last June, is adamant that a new crosswalk should be built across Hwy. 97 directly across from the parking lot at Mariposa. As things stand now, most residents are afraid to walk or use their strollers or walkers to travel 400 metres to the stop light and cross the highway so they can access the Buy-Low grocery store and other nearby amenities, said Heyward. (Keith Lacey photo)

A retired nurses aid who has been committed to fighting for the rights of seniors – and who recently moved into the Mariposa Gardens retirement residence – says she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get a new crosswalk installed across Hwy. 97.

As things stand now, residents at Mariposa Gardens have to travel about 400 metres north from the main parking lot to a set of lights at the intersection of Hwy. 97 and Hwy. 3 (Main Street), then cross the busy highway and walk another 400 metres south to access the Buy-Low grocery store parking lot.

Muriel Heyward, 78, who moved to Osoyoos from Vancouver Island to retire over three years ago and moved into Mariposa Gardens last June, said it upsets her that most of the residents refuse to make the trip up the highway and across the road and insists a second crosswalk directly across from the main parking lot would improve the quality of life for dozens of residents.

“I have some serious concerns about the fact the seniors at Mariposa have to walk or use their scooters or walkers and travel up a busy highway and cross at a very busy intersection,” she said. “These are the same seniors who built this province and built Canada.

“I’ve talked to all kinds of seniors who live here and most of them hardly ever get out because they’re afraid to cross the highway.”

Heyward estimates between “60 and 75 per cent” of residents at Mariposa Gardens use walkers or strollers to get around and most of them are simply afraid to manoeuvre up to the stop lights to cross the highway.

Having a new crosswalk installed only metres from the front doors at Mariposa would allow residents easy access not only to the Buy-Low grocery store, but also the A & W restaurant, McDonald’s and the sidewalks leading to the downtown core, said Heyward.

“I honestly believe a second crosswalk should be built for Mariposa residents because I know a lot of the residents now would love to be able to quickly cross the highway and be able to go to the grocery store or the restaurants nearby,” she said. “Where the crosswalk and traffic lights are now, the lights change too fast and it scares them.”

Heyward said “the final straw” that made her approach the Osoyoos Times to voice her concerns came a few months ago when an elderly resident from Mariposa was hit while riding his scooter across the highway at the existing crosswalk.

“He wasn’t seriously injured, but he was knocked off his scooter right on to the highway and it could have been very serious,” she said. “Last I heard was that members of his family came and removed him from Mariposa and took him back to the coast following this incident.”

Heyward, who worked as a nurses aid in a seniors residence in Victoria for many years before retiring, says she’s been “an advocate for seniors most of my life” and it frustrates her that a proper crosswalk wasn’t installed directly across from Mariposa when the facility was first built.

The Ministry of Transportation is responsible for provincial highways such as Hwy. 97 and she plans on contacting ministry officials to see if there’s any chance they might consider installing a crosswalk across from Mariposa, said Heyward.

She also plans on contacting local service clubs to see if they might be willing to work with her to raise awareness of this issue with the ministry and perhaps get involved in fundraising ventures to help pay for whatever costs are involved.

“I plan on contacting a couple of local service clubs to see if they might be interested in helping out with this,” she said. “I belonged to the Kinsmen Club in Comox Valley for many years and we always did great work for seniors.

“I really think getting another crosswalk installed at Mariposa is a really important project and hopefully one of the local service clubs would be willing to get involved and help me out. I’m going to keep working on this no matter what.”

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times