Adding older people to a new game plan

THE Free Press editorial of March 19, Proactive planning for a future with more seniors, recognizes that our aging population, including the at-need cohort that resides within it, will continue to increase over time.

Helping older people to remain healthier and more independent enhances their quality of life, while also reducing demands on the health-care system. It also notes, correctly, that the newly established office of the seniors advocate is a positive development, but that government needs a proactive game plan to address the demographic challenges that await.

What might that game plan include? A seniors minister who is not also the health minister; a dedicated policy and planning unit to support the minister and complement the work of the seniors advocate; and a mechanism that brings the many voices of older Manitobans to as many tables as possible.

Most older Manitobans, just over 90 per cent, live in their community, many independently, others with greater and lesser needs for support. Older Manitobans repeatedly state that they wish to remain in their community while they are able. Providing support as needed requires attention from all levels of government and a significant and indispensable infusion of programs and services from the not-for-profit sector.

Older people are an asset. They are employers, volunteers, caregivers and knowledge keepers.

But isolation, loneliness, and the impact of ageist attitudes can silence their voices. For many older people, and for many people of any age, top of mind issues include housing, transportation, income and food security, safety, and health care. Improving services and access to them can involve complex public policy decisions that cut across many provincial government departments.

Manitoba is one of only three provinces where the minister with responsibility for seniors is also the minister of health. Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara is to be commended for their continued leadership of the health ministry, which accounts for 35 per cent of government expenditures. Sixteen fellow cabinet ministers share responsibility for the remaining 65 per cent of spending. Responsibility for the health-care system is more than a full-time job.

In seven other provinces, older people and their families benefit from having a seniors minister who is not also responsible for managing their health-care system. The game plan in Ontario is led by its Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility. In Prince Edward Island, it’s the Department of Social Development and Seniors, while British Columbia has appointed a parliamentary secretary for senior’s services.

Newfoundland and Labrador, British Columbia and now Manitoba, are the only provinces with a seniors advocate. Manitoba’s advocate reports through the Legislative Assembly, and is tasked to identify, review and analyze systemic problems or concerns important to the lives of older Manitobans. One can expect that moving the needle forward on many of the advocate’s recommendations, will benefit from the attention of a seniors minister who has more time to engage with all cabinet colleagues to address those complex policy issues.

But is there also an opportunity to identify problems and concerns before they require the advocate’s attention?

In many other provinces, and previously in Manitoba, a dedicated policy and planning unit works across provincial departments and other levels of government, to address issues and seek solutions before things go wrong. The New Brunswick Seniors and Healthy Aging Secretariat, part of the Department of Social Development, promotes healthy aging, supports aging in place and addresses issues including elder abuses and financial security. The Nova Scotia Department of Seniors and Long-term Care provides leadership and policy coordination across government to support the social and economic wellbeing of older adults.

To complement the work of its seniors advocate, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Seniors works with other government departments and agencies to promote healthy aging across the lifespan and acts as a centre of expertise and knowledge on seniors and aging. In British Columbia, a council of advisers provides the seniors advocate with advice and feedback from the perspective of older people representing diversity of age, culture and geography. The Seniors Advisory Council of Nova Scotia advises government on the development of age related policies, programs, and services and is dedicated to improving the inclusion, well-being and independence of older adults living in Nova Scotia.

So, a game plan for Manitoba. Our home team needs strong leadership from its seniors minister. The minister needs a strategy and the capacity to identify and address issues before they become more expensive. And both the minister and the seniors advocate would benefit from a mechanism that brings to them, the voice and the experience of older Manitobans.

This new game plan will have the hometown fans cheering.

Jim Hamilton has been an advisor to the Public Health Agency of Canada and to the World Health Organization on healthy aging, is a past member of the National Seniors Council and previously led the Manitoba Seniors Secretariat.