On the last Monday of each month, the wet bar of Gilmore Gardens independent seniors residence is converted into the Gilmore Arms Pub.
Whilst not an official pub, it offers friends Maxine Howarth, 92, and Jim Gray, 90, a chance to catch up with one another.
Sure, there's a two drink limit, and the pub may close before the sun sets, but it doesn't stop Gray, in particular, from having a good time and often performing a variety show with building manager and friend Bob Wardley.
"I have my arm twisted behind my back by the building manager," quipped Gray, a Scotsman with the gift of gab.
Gilmore is one of a handful of independent senior living homes in the city that provides elders with meals, housekeeping, activities and health monitoring in an independent setting.
Residents are free to come and go and live in a setting typical of a condominium. "We're busy here. Time simply flies," said Howarth, sitting in the lobby as other friends scurried off to catch a private bus that would take them on a scenic drive.
The 125 residents pay roughly $3,000 per month to live at Gilmore and, like Howarth, are typically downsizing from their family homes.
For many, like Gray, they have lost their spouses to illnesses, particularly dementia. Gilmore reduces the chances of isolation that many seniors face, according to general manager Elizabeth Ho.
"Sometimes people lose the opportunity to share their lives. Here, everyone has stories to tell and you get to have a new audience," explained Ho, noting seniors meet in various committees to steer monthly activities such as community outings, music, exercise and brain games.
Gray and Howarth are part of a booming demographic colloquially dubbed the grey tsunami. According to Statistics Canada, in 2011 Richmond's seniors population - those over the age of 65 - was 26,000, representing about 14 per cent of the population. In 10 years, that rate should be about one quarter as baby boomers reach retirement age.
By 2040, roughly half the population will be over age 55.
This seniors boom is something on the minds of city planners and the community as a whole. You need only look around to see the changes.
In Steveston, the 144-unit Maple Residences, is a facility similar to Gilmore Gardens, but with more attention to medical services. Also, 30 of its units are government subsidized, and, unlike Gilmore Gardens, the Maples is a not-for-profit. Under construction is Kiwanis Towers on Minoru Boulevard, which will provide 296 rental units for seniors.
Meanwhile, a sod-turning ceremony will take place this year to build a new $80 million aquatic and seniors centre at Minoru Park.
The Older Adults' Centre, as it will be called by the city to shed the typical image of a "senior," will be roughly twice as large as the existing Minoru Place Seniors' Centre and act as the beacon for active living among residents age 55-plus. Overseeing this unprecedented demographic shift in the city, is senior services coordinator Eva Busich-Veloso, who helps seniors connect with private, municipal and provincial programs of all kinds.
Busich-Veloso doesn't believe in the doom and gloom of the grey tsunami.
She believes as boomers enter retirement they will serve great value to the community as volunteers.
On the flip side, they will also demand a lot of services as they expect to stay healthy and active. Busich-Veloso said despite dementia rates doubling by the next generation, people are much healthier these days.
"People are living long into retirement," she said.
As the federal government plans to increase the age of eligibility for benefits and pension from 65 to 67 in 10 years time, and boomers grow older, Busich-Veloso could see a time when the eligible age (currently 55) to attend the seniors' centre could rise as well.
Living longer poses challenges, however, particularly for those with dementia and in need of complex geriatric healthcare.
Kathy Wong, manager at Lions Manor, a residential care facility, is on the front lines in Richmond. Nearly all of the facility's 93 residents have some form of dementia. And while many are the same age as those at Gilmore Gardens, the style of living is a stark contrast.
Lions Manor re-opened last week in a renovated hotel on Bridgeport Road. The old facility in Steveston was built in 1971 and Vancouver Coastal Health shut it down, as it was inadequate for the changing needs of geriatric care.
The manor is equipped with CCTV and is a locked facility. Checking in and out is required by residents and many wear electronic devices to detect wandering.
Wong says her facility, which is part of a 668-residential carebed system in the city, is at capacity and wait lists are the norm. "Richmond is short on long-term beds," said Wong. Presently, there are 27 hospitalized seniors on the residential waiting list. Their wait time is 46 days. Also, there are 41 seniors living at home who have a wait time of 70 days, according to VCH.
Another wait list exists at Austin Harris Residence, operated by SUCCESS, a care society for immigrants.
The intermediate care (assistedliving) facility has a unique perspective on care that may only be found in Richmond as a result of the city's high Chinese-Canadian population.
Alice Choi, executive director of health services at SUCCESS, says the 50-unit residence, built in 2007, is nearly entirely filled with Chinese residents.
While their health care challenges (hypertension, stroke, dementia etc.) are the same as other Canadians, Choi said as people grow old they tend to feel more comfortable with their roots, particularly food. Choi must now hire health practitioners that speak English and Chinese.
"As the years have passed, by default or for whatever reasons, most of the residents have become Chinese, including the waiting list," said Choi.
Having health authorities assess referrals in a timely manner (two weeks) was one of 176 recommendations - designed to improve home and community care for seniors - made by the BC Ombudsperson to the Ministry of Health in 2012. Since then, a November 2013 study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives notes that just six per cent of the recommendations had been implemented and 66 per cent had not been acknowledged. Minister of Health Terry Lake told the News via email that work is still needed in implementing the recommendations, many of which require no capital funding and are related to better care practices and public reporting.
"I believe more needs to be done regarding the Ombudsperson's recommendations into seniors' care. My ministry is now taking a second look at the Ombudsperson's report," wrote Lake.
One of the policies Lake's ministry has been working on is the Better at Home program. The government recently provided $20 million to implement the largely volunteer program run by United Way of the Lower Mainland to provide in-home services for seniors.
Rick Turner, co-chair of the BC Health Coalition, a provincial group of health-related organizations, believes Better at Home needs to be improved and expanded, noting the lack of residential care beds is overcrowding hospitals with seniors who could be better off in community care or even at home if there were better services. "Best at Home is not enough. We need a more concerted effort," said Turner.
Turner notes that hospitalized seniors cost roughly 1,200 each day while in residential care those costs are about $200-250. Home support, such as a one hour daily visit from a nurse, would cost about $50 daily.
Turner wants to see an improved and more robust Best at Home policy.
"Lots of seniors don't want to and are not ready to go into residential care," said Turner.
What Turner finds puzzling is a seemingly lower level of funding for home and community care.
"When it comes to home and community care — from the data of the BC Ombudsperson — in 2009 the government was servicing fewer people and spending less money," he said.
But like Busich-Veloso Turner isn't all doom and gloom. While he wants a more detailed and encompassing plan for seniors health he also sees lots of positives to come.
"The boomers are coming of age and they're entering their senior years. And for the most part they're doing very well, what with the advancements in health care. But in the coming years we will outnumber the young folks," said Turner.
One of the biggest problems the BC Ombudsperson found when it analyzed the BC health care system was a lack of reporting of data.
"During our investigation, while people were responsive to our requests for information we encountered difficulties gathering comprehensive, consistent and reliable information from the health authorities and the Ministry of Health. In many cases, the information we requested was simply not tracked," the Ombudsperson summarized.
Turner agrees.
"If there's no data, you don't know what's going on with the system and if you don't know what's going on you don't know what issues to address," said Turner.
While VCH was able to provide the News with some basic information annual data, such as wait times for residential care beds, was not readily available.
It also couldn't tell the News how many daily hours of care a residential care patient receives.
In June 2013, more than a year after the initial Ombudsperson's report and recommendations VCH had acted on six of 33 recommendations that were directly correlated to health authority performance.
Presently, those numbers may well have improved according to a VCH spokesperson, noting the updates are done annually.
Among the recommendations that received "no specific response" from VCH are:
- Track wait times to be assessed for all levels of care (home support, ssisted living and residential care)
- Track complaints made to case managers in all levels of care
- Provide clear and consistent information to the public on complaint responses
- Inform complainants in writing about the outcome of a complaint
- Track the time it takes seniors to receive subsidized care and report it quarterly to the ministry
- Better inform patients and their families regarding regulations, changes to care and appeal processes
- Provide 3.36 daily residential care hours by 2014/15, according to ministry guidelines
- Track the incidents of abuse and neglect
The full report can be seen here.
Elder abuse and neglect is a major concern, in particular.
As the population ages it would only seem that total numbers of crime — including physical, emotional and financial abuse — against older adults will increase. In Richmond anecdotal evidence suggests as much according to Richmond RCMP spokesperson Const. Adrianna Peralta.
"Accurate statistics are difficult to obtain, however, I believe that the reporting of elder abuse is slightly on the rise as awareness around this issue continues to increase," said Peralta.
According to a 2010 Statistics Canada survey two per cent of Canadians over the age of 65 reported abuse from a family member. Women were more likely to be emotionally or financially abused by a child or caregiver. Victimization rates have remained relatively stable.
The survey indicated that police data from 2010 showed that Canadians aged 55 and older experienced lower rates of violent crime.
However, rates of self-reporting among older Canadians "are significantly lower" compared with other age groups. In fact, the older one gets the less likely they are to report abuse, according to the survey.
One example of such under reporting is Internet fraud. Older people reported online security problems 64 per cent of the time while younger people reported issues 77 per cent of the time.
That's not to say the crimes go unreported. The survey indicated that while "less than one-half of violent or household victimizations of older Canadians were brought to the attention of police… they were more likely to be reported to police than incidents involving younger Canadians."
The Vancouver Police Department has an Elder Abuse Unit but the Richmond RCMP does not. Richmond depends on its network of community police stations and their officers to disseminate safety information within the community, such as at community centres.
Peralta said many cases involve family and as such they can be "complex." Seniors often feel shame and fear of losing their independence if they report abuse.
"There is always the issue of cognitive functioning that can further complicate the case if that functioning is deteriorating," said Peralta.
Financial abuse is a particular issue that is dealt with by the Public Guardian and Trustee, a provincial government organization. The latest five-year average to 2013 shows that 1,550 reports per year are filed related to financial abuse, neglect or self-neglect regarding adult persons.
For a list of scams directed toward seniors visit the Vancouver Police Department web page on elder abuse.
