Pilot program to help N.S. seniors combat isolation seeks to become permanent
CBC
The organizers of a pilot project aimed at reducing isolation among seniors in Nova Scotia say it has been a resounding success and they are seeking to make it permanent.
Seniors Connect N.S. operates in five counties with funding from the Department of Seniors and Long-term care.
It provides seniors with opportunities to socialize over the phone through activities such as coffee chats, bingo, trivia and singalongs.
The program has been life-changing for participants like Rose Jackson. She is in her 80s and lives in a cabin in rural Lunenburg County.
Jackson and her husband used to live in Halifax. They moved after the COVID-19 pandemic because of skyrocketing rental costs.
Isolated by her location and mobility issues, she says the program has become her primary social outlet.
"I would be devastated if it doesn't continue because I'm very dependent on it," she says. "It's only been a few months, but it really lightens my life completely, like a ray of sunshine."
The program started in Shelburne, Queens, Lunenburg counties and Halifax Regional Municipality and has since expanded to Inverness County in Cape Breton.
The pilot program is scheduled to run until the end of April.
Rebecca McCarthy, the program's co-ordinator, says the sessions not only provide entertainment but also foster a sense of community.
"Loneliness and isolation is definitely kind of an epidemic happening now," she said.
"Things are changing so much in the province and people are just feeling more and more isolated. As people age, that becomes a lot more difficult."
McCarthy says the program was developed in Ontario and she and her team adapted it for Nova Scotia under the direction of the province.
She says the program provides a stepping stone for some seniors to transition back into in-person socialization.
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