Ripples of laughter echo from the hall of Carrington Court as senior residents of Milestone enjoy a game of bingo, thanks to the Assisted Living Program.

The 30-year-old program’s goal is to promote independent living and create a sense of community for the seniors of Milestone. It is not a care home, although many senior residents choose to live in Carrington Court. It is a low-cost subsidized housing option that happens to be in the same location as the Assisted Living Program’s office. This adds an element of convenience for seniors residing within Carrington Court.

The program is run by volunteers, and support worker Ariel Olipra. 

“They’re happy, I think, to have something to look forward to. Otherwise, people don’t plan a whole lot for themselves other than doctors appointments when they get to a certain age and it’s just fun to have something other than that to go to,” said Olipra. 

This “fun” includes countless activities hosted for the seniors by Olipra and the volunteers. These activities are fun holiday events such as Christmas carols and the town twinkle tour. There are also events focused solely on fitness like the winter walking club, workout class, and aquacise. And of course, book club and bingo.

Notably one of the more important programs are those relating to health. Volunteer Linda Wilkie, has been a member since the program began.

“There’s that liaison with the health care professionals, home care being one. We also work with public health so that we assist them with organizing flu clinics, covid clinics, that sort of thing. It’s just something we do more as a courtesy. So we kind of take that load off those nurses and we do what we can to organize it and advertise it,” said Wilkie.

These clinics are necessary because the town of Milestone does not have a doctor’s office or hospital, only an ambulance to take them to the nearest hospital. The nearest hospitals being a 40-minute drive to either Regina or Weyburn. 

Olipra is grateful for the one secure health care related tool the town does have access to, the ambulance service.

“As long as we have our ambulance service running, that’s crucial. There are times when they haven’t had enough people working in those positions, and it’s kind of scary because some people might have a medical emergency and we don’t even have an ambulance,” said Olipra.  

Health care is needed because of one common struggle that seniors are facing. “It most certainly is a challenge sometimes for people who, for instance, need to go for bloodwork regularly. And that particular thing we’re looking into. I don’t know if we’ll ever get anybody to come out but we’re looking into that to see if we could get someone out to the community ’cause there are lots that need that bloodwork,” said Wilkie.

Wilkie and the rest of the board believe running bloodwork and blood pressure clinics is not the job of Olipra, and that it is the job of the Saskatchewan Health Authority. 

“I think that our seniors and older generations have a lot of wisdom and insight to share and it’s also a really great experience for the youngsters to have a chance to sit down with and have a conversation without other family distractions happening”, says Alex Meeres, the fourth-grade teacher at the elementary school. With the help of Olipra, he organizes the “Bridging of the Generations” program with his class which pairs fourth graders with seniors for activities. 

The activities usually consist of a craft and a snack and are centered around the major holidays. Last year during covid, the students even became pen pals with the seniors when being face-to-face was too dangerous. These connections even seem to have a lasting impact on some students. 

“I think it’s important for the students to have that time with the seniors. I hope the connections made at Carrington Court continue past fourth grade. Sometimes we have older students, in the middle years or even in grade 12 inviting seniors to school functions,” said Meeres.

Although many of the activities remain the same as 30 years ago, Wilkie said the Assisted Living Program is looking at the years ahead.

“Older people are either moving away for medical care or passing away and so the group of seniors now are younger. It’s always about what’s relevant to them. We can’t necessarily draw them in with the same things we did 10 years ago. So it is changing all the time. Some of the programs are the same, but a lot are not. We have to keep coming up with things.”

Olipra and the Advisory Board hope the program can continue for as long as possible because they know this program is important to the community of Milestone. 

“It would be nice if all communities had something like this because I feel like people just kind of live their life and then they just get put into a care home. There’s no middleman for some places,” said Olipra.

Featured image: Seniors of Milestone enjoy an afternoon game of bingo, courtesy of the Assisted Living Program.