If it’s not good for our members we are probably not going to do it.
We won't start a class, program or initiative that our users in Medicine Hat or Calgary don't see as desirable or beneficial.
Last month I told you about Veiner Vintage Transport. Just as a recap; this program is funded by Health Aging Alberta through the United Way of Calgary.
It is a door-to-door service helping seniors who don’t drive anymore, can’t drive in the winter, and have no family or friends to help them get to appointments.
This service is designed to provide transportation services to members of our aging community and assist in reducing isolation, increasing access to the community, and supporting opportunities to engage in recreational and social activities.
We know this service is beneficial for Seniors and that is why we run a program like this. However, we also know that a program like this not only makes it more likely users of the program will be able to meet their goal of living in their homes, but it's also good for taxpayers.
Programs like this reduce isolation, and they ensure seniors have access to proactive and preventative health care- this is a benefit to us all and it reduces costs to our taxpayers.
Yesterday I was down in Medicine Hat talking with Roger’s and Chat TV about another initiative that we are involved in that is both good for our users and good for taxpayers in general.
The initiative is a partnership with the Palliser Primary Care Network.
Palliser PCN employs a Behavioural Consultant who works out of Veiner Centre and provides support to seniors free of charge. In her role as a BHC, Tanya can work to support people if they are experiencing mental health problems, life stresses, motivational issues, or other health concerns.
She has special training in the behavioural management of health issues through brief solution-focused interventions utilizing the mind-body-behaviour connection and helping them determine a course of action that will work best for the individual.
She supports people with a wide variety of mental health, psychosocial, motivational, and medical concerns including management of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, anger, grief, smoking cessation, sleep hygiene, chronic pain and diabetes, among others.
Tanya can help people develop skills to cope better with emotional or behavioural issues such as anger, anxiety, depression, stress, and grief.
She can also help folks develop plans to quit smoking, manage alcohol use, be more active, and help with other lifestyle changes.
She can also work with them to reduce symptoms that go along with certain chronic conditions or help them cope better with these conditions. Some of those might include headaches, trouble sleeping, and chronic pain.
She can help them develop skills to effectively manage emotional or behavioural difficulties. The goals of the BHC are to work with the individual to focus on symptom reduction, functional improvement, and better quality of life. Now all of these things seem like they may be very beneficial to seniors.
They do help our seniors live their best life and stay engaged in the community.
But the beauty is partnerships like this benefit our whole community and taxpayers as well.
I suppose we should be very thankful that we have great partners in the community like the Primary Care Network — great partners result in great initiatives for seniors in southern Alberta.
