Learning about supports for seniors

West End

I can now buy seniors bus tickets and have recently filled out all my pension paperwork. How did it come to this? I really don’t feel my age until I look in the mirror.

Lately I have been watching a few too many YouTube videos of stern-looking women in their 80s and 90s somberly recounting things they wish they had learned about aging earlier in life. One would probably have been enough to absorb the useful but cautionary warnings.

Screen legend Bette Davis obviously agreed that getting older is no place for sissies as she famously had a pillow embroidered with the saying.

Luckily, there are wonderful supports in our city that can ease the stresses of the often-challenging golden years.

My interactions with A&O: Support Services for Older Adults (formerly Age & Opportunity) have all been positive and upbeat. The staff and volunteers have invariably been cheerful and kind.

The non-profit was founded in 1957 after a survey funded by the Winnipeg Foundation three years earlier determined that many seniors were living marginalized and isolated lives.

Its programs are designed to empower older Manitobans aged 55 and over, and to support their well-being in the community. The specialized programs ranging from a housing directory to a support system delivered via Zoom for those who struggle with clutter in their homes are all free of charge.

An ordinary house phone will suffice to participate in any of its Seniors Centre Without Walls interactive lectures, quizzes, spelling bees and more. Seniors are dialled in from across the province and a skilled facilitator keeps the conversation flowing as callers comment or take a turn answering questions. I participated in one and am sure those who can’t get out find it a lifeline.

Having two community hubs where I fit in and feel like myself has made my life as a low-income senior easier. It won’t be the retirement of my dreams, filled with restaurant meals and other luxuries, but I won’t be as direly lonely as some other older adults.

Our golden years may not be as shiny as we had hoped but Age and Opportunity and other seniors’ resources can play an outsized (and very needed role) in brightening them and helping us through the transitions.

Find out more about A&O at aossupportservices.ca