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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Residence to be a first for aboriginal seniors

By: Carol Sanders

Posted: 11/30/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Board member Daisy Fagnan says new suites like this one will fill a longstanding need.

Winnipeg's first assisted-living residence for aboriginal seniors opens in December.

"We've needed it for a long time," said 73-year-old Daisy Fagnan, a member of the board of KeKiNan -- Cree for "our home."

The 32-unit assisted-living facility on Robinson Avenue in the North End will offer elders 55 and older private apartments with shared breakfasts and hot lunches in a common dining room.

"For a long time, aboriginal seniors have been going other places and not (feeling) accepted," said Fagnan who has lived next door in the KeKiNan independent living facility for 19 years. She doesn't expect to move into one of the assisted-living units for a few years, but is relieved more places for aboriginal seniors have been created.

"It's there for people who need it," said Fagnan.

The KeKiNan Centre is taking applications for the assisted living units that will be ready later next month, said Lucille Bruce, board chairwoman.

"We anticipate it's going to fill up pretty fast," said Bruce.

She doesn't have any housing studies or statistics but knows there's a need.

"We know that in the city of Winnipeg aboriginal seniors have all kinds of barriers in getting safe and affordable housing," said Bruce. "Language has always been a barrier" for elders whose mother tongue is indigenous, she said.

"It's important, too, for seniors to be surrounded by their peers who speak the same language and share the same stories and similar lived experiences... They feel understood and they belong."

The new building will also offer temporary accommodation on a month-to-month basis to aboriginal seniors who need extra support while they undergo medical treatment or recover from an illness, or because they have been temporarily displaced from their homes for some reason. Bruce said many elders will find it a safe haven.

Residents who are 65 and older will also have access to programs, information and advocacy from the Aboriginal Senior Resources Centre office in KeKiNan building at 100 Robinson Ave. It already houses the 30 independent living units, where Fagnan lives.

The new assisted-living 55-plus centre is going to provide some rental subsidies to make it easier for aboriginal seniors to access food service and laundry service, said Bruce.

Light housekeeping and laundering of sheets and towels will be provided on a weekly basis. The security building will have an emergency call button in each apartment.

"The cultural piece is critically important," said Bruce.

"We know many current assisted-living centres or housing facilities for seniors don't have a culturally relevant approach to working with seniors," said Bruce. "This seniors residence is going to have (it) built right in."

Feasts, outings and traditional ceremonies will be part of its fabric.

For more information about KeKiNan Assisted Living or to request a rental application, contact the Aboriginal Senior Resources Centre at 586-4595.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 30, 2009 A5

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