Planning, thou | ht t required |

_ TERRACE — - Communities
"will have to provide the correct
blend. of services for. senior
citizens. if they want to keep.
those who live there already and
to attract others, says the direc-

- tor of Simon Fraser University’s

_ Gerontology Research Centre.
:,Of prime importantance is'a
wide range of housing suitable
"for seniors of all income levels,
says Dr. Gerald Hodge. :
“Seniors will first look at
hospitals and medical services.
’ They'll then assess the housing
situation and how well you do
that will be a determining fac-

tor,’? Hodge said.

‘*A diversity of housing is one
of the things we tend to forget
or overlook,’ said Hodge,

’ At the same time, Hodge said
there are now and will be
seniors who are more affluent
and housing .will have to be

developed for that purpose,

“Older people have likes and

dislikes and preferences just as

younger adults do,” he added.
And that housing will have to

be coristructed so as to”
recognize the physical limita-

tions of people as they grow
older, he said,

_ Different health
care methods
on their way >

TERRACE. — There'll be a
gkowing number of options to
' provide senior health and other

é as the area’s population
es say local professionals in

¢ field; -

iAnd the increase in services
will feature new and innovative
ways of meeting the .physical
and.social needs of the elderly
and stretch health care budgets
for the most efficient expen-
ditures possible, they say.
- Michael Leisinger ‘and
Kathleen Delgatty of the Ter-

- race Health Care Society, the

body that runs Mills Memorial
‘Hospital and the Terraceview
Lodge extended and in-
termediate care facility,

"characterize the changes as con-

‘tinving care with an ultimate

* ‘goal of keeping seniors out of

institutions for as long as possi-
ber

_ “If you keep a person at
home, it reduces the demand for

institutions with overheads and:
24-hour staffing,” said Leis-:
* more people reach retirement

inger, °°
“Quality of life i is better at
‘home, Ideally you want to pre-

sent: people with options and

“those will widen with time,” ad-
ded Delgatty,
-One of those options is the

‘health care society’s supportive
_: housing plan, a proposal which
“would result. in condominium
“style units being built adjacent

to Terraceview Ladge,

. They" be designed for
seniors and others who can live
«independently - but may need
some services available through
-Terraceview,

-At.a cost of $20-$30 day, the
- proposal is far less expensive

shan the $90 a day for each in-

. termediate care bed that is now
one pf the few care and housing

“to provide more senior citizens
- services and to establish the area
VAs-8 retirement centre is based

-on the growing numbers of peo- ;

_ ple who are turning older,
Numbers of senior citizens in
“telation to the general popula-
“tion are already growing and
will continue to rise as the post-

a “war baby boom group ages.

Statistics Canada numbers in-

” dicdte’that by. 1995, 471,000
Br itish Columbia residents ‘will

Seniors can find

TERRACE. _

‘With many
tores - Offering discounts -.to
eniors, careful shopping can
easily save a couple as much as
750 a year, says one local pen-
toner... .:

’ But, “piven the level of dis-

and-the days on which they are
vailable: varying. from store io

io know, what is available and

ins stown.is-15 per cent at
everal, larger retail stores on

counts, the goods they apply to |

re, Basil Baxter says the trick

“the discount is ofl ad,

options open to seniors, said
Leisinger, ;
Yet while the proposal is one

_of those that fits suggestions by

provincial and féderal govern-
ments to find less expensive care
methods, the society is having
trouble getting it accepted.
“It’s perhaps too creative,’’
said Leisinger. “The proposal
crosses traditional boundaries
(but) wiser heads will prevail in
Victoria and eventually the
money will be forthcoming.’’
He and Delgaity also see the
day when parent care, that is
formal or informal ar-
rangements whereby adults will
take care of elderly parents at

- home, will become common,

“There will be an incredible
demand,” said Delgatty of that
type of service which roughly
equals day care for children.

Leisinger added ‘that com-
panies will become involved
because they will have to com-
pete for a workforce population
that will dwindle as more and

age,

There is already one agency in
town, Terrace Home Support
Services, that provides home-
based care for seniors and de-
mand for it is growing, says co-
ordinator Betty Stewart.

The service employs 17 peo-
ple to assist in household
chores, care for terminally ill
people who wish to stay at home
and give companions of those at
home but who need care a tem-
porary break. .

“More seniors want to stay in
Terrace rather than move to
Parksville or somewhere else,’’
said Stewart in describing the
service which has seen its client
size grow from 30 eight years
ago to 100 now.

~ Aging population —

TERRACE — The city’ smove be 65 years of age or older ont.

of’ a population of 3,381
million,
That'll rise to 504 ,000 out of

a population of 3.518 million in .

1998, 523,000 out of a popula-
tion of 3.6 million in 2000 and
571,000 out of a population of
3,798 million in 2005.

By the year 2010, there will be -

640,000 senior citizens out of a
population of 3.966 million, or
nearly one of every. five
residents.

One type of exclusion is not
to have discounts extend to sale
items. Baxter queried ‘that

“policy, saying ‘In effect you

lose your advantage just
because they happen to putit on
sale,” he explains.
’ He is also critical of stores
which put a limit on the dis-
count,

"(A recent Safeway senlors: dis.

count day: offered 10 percent up :
to'a maximum $50 worth: of.’

purchases. That figure was set
in 1985 and, through an over-

sight,

ak ok ate oe a ne aT ig RA SOR EE Ce Ly y 4 FOR Real eee say

; said;

never raised.’ Safeway |
manager Eric Johanson Said the. .
~ limit will now be raised. At the: °
t same time, . Johanson’ sald. a os
in limit is ‘needed: or: non-setilors.
‘a year > may take. advantage of the of:
isin ‘he nildst of ‘ ea ;
addition. to. hiss
¢; says, there are also: dis”
' for ulg sulle yet

: Lawrence:
Thai

Where senior citizens livei ina
community is just as important

as the types of accommodations .

because they will ‘need to ‘be

‘close or have easy access to

medical, social, recreational
and. shopping facilities, Hodge
added. -

There is: potential i in develop.

ing.a community to attract
senior citizens from other areas

but that market in B:C. seems.

to .be fairly well established,
Hodge continued.

. "Half of senior citizens
migrating in the early 80s went
to perhaps 10 major centres,”

“he said. .

“The reason for this, and it’s
been true for a Jong time, is that
the’ place that. gets a leg up on
the situation will do well,"
Hodge said, .

There will be competition 1 bet-

ween communities for senior
citizens and because of thal, a
community ‘has: to be clear
about its objectives, he con-
tinued.

“If a community like Terrace
wants to become a retirement

community it. is important -to-

hold onto the people already liv-
ing there in the process of retir-

ing. It first has t to look at their
needs,”’ Hodge said.

Should a community thea. go
out to attract seniors, itl: find
that information sent back
home from retirees about living,
health and other facilities -will
affect further moves, he added,

“The conventional wisdom

of sun and climate (a8 an attrac-

tion) clearly is not borne out,’
Hodge said giving examples of
some "Kootenay communities
with winters quite similar to the
ones in Terrace,

TERRACE — What Fred
Berghauser likes best about
the newest kind of senior
citizen housing project in the
northwest is its lack of
government involvement.

“We could have received
money from the government
but the paperwork would
have been immense. Here we
make our own decisions,’
said the president of the
Skeena Senior Citizens
Housing Society which is
building the Twin River
. Estates condominium project
on Lakelse Ave,

The 30 units of Phase I
were occupied over the
winter and 21 of the 30 units
in Phase H, scheduled for
completion this: fall, have

THAT 5 Skeena Senior Citizen Housing Society president Fred Berghauser standing in front one
of Twin River Estates units now under construction. Thirty units were completed last year.

New kind of housing

already been sold. Phase III
will consist of 24 units.

Berghauser said the key
aspect of Twin Rivers is its
affordability, Prices for
smaller units .in:Phase I were
$50,500 and’ $60,500 for
larger ones, Those have in-
creased for Phase II, first by
$5,000 and then by $4,000
for each unit.

“That's the attraction —
the price. Most people can
sell their home and pay
outright,” he said.

That affordability will
continue as the units must be
re-sold to the society at a cost
to be determined by the
average prices of Phases I, II
and IIL. Two per cent will be
added to the re-sale figure to

cover repairs and
maintenance,

The issue of senior housing
also occupied discussion
recently of a group of people
gathered together by the city
to look at needs for the
area’s elderly population,

They suggested the city
needs -more senior citizen
rental accommodation along
the same lines as the Willows
complex. Rents there are
subsidized through various
government programs.

The group also suggested
building code regulations
should be modified to take
into account problems elder-
ly people may have in enter-
ing, leaving and using
various facilities,

Tarrace Standard, Wednesday, May 23, 1990 — Page AG

ETTERS

__ TO THE TERRACE STANDARD

If the stores didn’t want you
to take advantage of it, they
wouldn’t offer it."’

His advice to other seniors is
simple . — “If the discount is
there to be had, take it.’* Poten-
tial savings of at least $750 a
year. can make a big difference
in fixed’ income budgets, Baxter

etek ee

amount of money seniors spend

iin: their outlets, but all recognize

‘they ate‘a force ‘in the market.
> Noting’ his. «store offered

: senior’s. discounts each Wednes-

“Op. ‘general manager
‘Gosselin added,

t's: ons. of our better days
hi ‘ Overwaitea
» Chivildave

“Local stores are not able to.
‘ ‘put’ LY percentage fi igure on the

DISCOUNTS COUNT, according to local senior Basil Baxter, Seen

here taking advantage of discount Wednesday at the Co- -op, he
says @ couple can save.$750 a year by taking advantage of the
price breaks offered pensioners by many local stores.

Safeway. manager Eric. Johan-

son said the -seniors’ market.

share was-not. yet | as significant
as in established retirement cen-

tres such a: Kelowna and White:
Rock, they: suggested ‘the aging.

of the: population: ‘meant it ‘was

ne Thy Mgt Ra eT a ety pag yy Name

likely to grow in the future, -
Special services. offered to
seniors by. all three stores in-

cluded free ‘delivery ‘of groceries - |
and ensuring. availability of
‘small portions: packaging?" in ‘

their meat depariments, |

disease.
comment

Dear Sir:

the, Editor, May 9) is a fact
not only In Terrace bat in
any countryside with
wildlife.

] know people in Loudon,
Windsor, Toronto and Mon-.
treal who have this disease.
Most: scientists agree that
deer ticks aid certain ticks
found In the bushes infest
deer, moose, etc. ;

People attract these ticks
when they walk, step or sleep
in the bush, "People who
work in the logging industry
or go camping should protect
themselves and their animals
by wearing proper clothes,
shoes, boots. Ask the family
doctor of other ways and
methods to protect yourself
before you become a victim
of these ticks,

Symptoms are different in
different people. Some have
rashes, arthritic problems,
respiratory problems,
fatigue, weakness,

Some of the bad cases
show enlargement of the
Spleen, but that can also be
caused by the commen cold
or flu. Some cases found
enlargement of the lymph
glands above the aorta,

If sclentists know more
about deer ticks, how they
transmit the virus to the
blood and which kind of
virus, the life of the lyme
disease patient willl be easier.
I suggest that the health
ministry, the health board,
forest ministry send some
qualified people to talk
about the disease.

The best way to beat any
disease is to know about it.
Steve Ramzi,

Mills Memorial
Hospital,

Terrace, B.C.

Shames'
vote
needed

An open letter to:

Board of Directors,
Regional District of Kitimat-
Stikine,

Terrace, B.C.

Dear Directors:

Please go to the taxpayers
in a referendum before you
vote on whether or not to ac-
cept shares in Shames Moun-
tain Ski Corporation as their
payment for the Kit-
sumkatum Ski Hill assets,

Lack of community reac-
tion — pro or con — should

‘not be interpreted as ac-
quiescence or indifference.
We simply feel helpless to
change the mindset of direc-
tors who seem hell bent to
mire us even deeper in ski hill
debts,

Already for three and a
half years taxpayers have
borne the burden of Shames'
debt. We are paying for the
original Kitsumkalum Ski
Hill costs (and wiil be doing
so for many years yet) while
Shames has failed to live up
to the terms of sale.

So far Shames has shown
little commitment to paying
for their purchase, Nor have
their judgement and
estimates proven sound:

1. They bid top dollar for
equipment they now say was
worn out and obsolete even
at the time of sale in 1986.

2. Since 1986 they have
paid $3,000 on a six-figure
purchase.

Shames has renegotiated
their contract three times, for
even more ridiculously le-
nient terms, until their intent
seems to be to have the Kit-
sumkalum assets almost ‘as
an outright gift.

4. They have failed to
safeguard the Kitsumkalum
assets from vandalism, :

All along their cost
estimates have been below
realistic projections. ‘This
leads me to suspect their pro-
’ fit projections may in turn be
inflated,

Thornhill needs’ “its tax
dollars to install sewer "and

nee imed ie MRR RED aed

Lyme Disease (Letters to

cont'd AG © ce

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