Seniors’ Brainstorming Session – What next?
By Sadanand Mankikar, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
The Seniors’ Brainstorming Session held on Saturday, October 22nd at the Sindhi Gurumandir, Etobicoke, Canada was indeed a great success. With 58 in attendance, six presentations on relevant topics, two breakout sessions – one dealing with Social and Cultural Needs and the other one dealing with Living Options, the event brought out concerns and issues everyone was thinking but hesitant to discuss in public. Now that everything is in public, the stage has been set. Now the question is “what next?” or “is it just talk and no action”?
The way I see it, the all senior’s issues can be divided into two parts;
the Short-Term Goals which can be implemented within the span of the next few months, should take care of social and cultural needs and
the Long-Term Goals which can be implemented within the span of the next three to five years, should focus on living options.
Short Term Goals – Social and Cultural Needs: A well thought program should fulfil the following needs:
• forums/seminars/workshop on relevant topics,
• outings and activities of interest,
• buddy system for assistance, companionship, rides
• assistance in using existing programs,
• assistance and guidance in financial and legal matters
• information on Assisted/Independent living arrangements
• facilitate transition to Seniors/old age homes
• providing assistance/companionship in the Seniors/old age homes
• assistance/guidance to the family when someone passes away
Long Term Goals – Community, Assisted, Independent Living: The prospect of moving in a Senior’s Residence may raise the following concerns
• Food/Cultural difference
• Companionship
• Loneliness/Feeling of being left out/Family disengagement
• Abandonment
• Lack of information
• Fear of unknown/Uncertainty
• Feeling of not belonging/alienation
• Hostile environment
• Financial adequacy
Some of the living options we have are:
• Continue to stay in the same house and employ necessary services to meet the needs
• Share a house with like-minded people, make common arrangements to meet the needs
• Stay in a same condo building and make common arrangements to meet the need
• Stay in nearby locations and make common arrangements to meet the need
• Build our own community building
In order to go ahead, we ought to start developing a doable plan. In our small Konkani community, we have a large number of people who have knowledge, experience and expertise in the related areas. Many have ideas and/or plans on how to proceed.
We want to set up two core teams to explore the possibilities and come up with plans for execution. Through this article we are inviting those who are willing to volunteer their expertise and ideas and develop plans for
i. Social and Cultural Programs
ii. Living Accommodation/Arrangements.
Those who are interested in being part of these teams are requested to call Sadanand Mankikar at (905) 399-1073 or send an email to sadanand.mankikar@gmail as soon as possible.
