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Organizations are invited to review the paper Supporting George and Betty: An Integrated Management Strategy for Seniors Supports, Housing and Care in Alberta, produced by the Alberta Network of Senior-Related Organizations. “If they are in agreement with the concepts being presented, we invite them to formally endorse the paper by writing a letter of support and emailing it to rlaing@mysage.ca. We are currently attempting to set up meetings with senior elected officials with the Alberta Government.” To access the paper, go here.
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Edmonton Sign-A-Rama’s Signs of Support program assists non-profit and charitable organizations to replace or create effective, affordable signage related to their mission. This includes facility, event and identification signage. “We have limited funding and hope we can provide help to those of the greatest need and most powerful impact.” The deadline to apply is March 31. For program details, go here. For information, call 780-448-1944 or email mreid@edmontonsignarama.com.
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“Nonprofits have long relied on stories to help stir emotion. However, as the nonprofit world has evolved, so, too, has the need to communicate more than just emotion.” Consequently, “nonprofits are among the many types of organizations increasingly trying to present data in visually striking ways”. To read more of How Nonprofits Make Data Fun and Informative, go here.
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A group of Australian neuroscientists has developed an iPhone and iPad application designed to exercise the brain, educate the user and reduce the risk of developing dementia.” To watch a video on it, go here. To view and/or download it, go here.
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Volunteer Canada has launched its new National Volunteer Week website and it now includes “new tools and resources to support voluntary organizations and volunteer centres in their efforts to recognize Canada’s volunteers”. The website is located at http://nationalvolunteerweek.ca/. A new instalment of the NVW video seminar series will be released on the site each week starting in late January. For more information, go here. To download NVW campaign materials and promotional resources, go here. For additional resources and templates, go the Volunteer Alberta website here.
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To help your clients get through the winter, Homeward Trust has come out with its updated Winter Emergency Response Guide. To access it, go here.
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“Financial scams targeting seniors have become so prevalent they’re now considered ‘the crime of the 21st century’. Why? Because seniors are thought to have a significant amount of money sitting in their accounts. But it’s not just wealthy seniors who are targeted. Low-income older adults are also at risk.” To review the U.S. National Council on Aging’s list of the top 10 scams targeting seniors, go here. For tools to combat scams, go here.
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“No matter how much we wish it to be so, there isn’t any returning to a pre-recession world. The landscape of the (non-profit) sector is changing – has changed already – due to both crisis and innovation. These times call for nonprofits to stay true to their mission but to let go of the past, and face 2012 eager, nimble and fearless.” To read more of What Nonprofits Should Think About in 2012, go here. The context is American but much of the article is relevant here as well.
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Here’s one for “young people” aspiring to become leaders. According to bloggers in the Harvard Business Review, baby boomers have failed as leaders and it’s now up to the following generations to take responsibility for addressing major challenges. To read Five Resolutions for Aspiring Leaders, go here.
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To watch an Alberta Centre for Active Living video on winter walking, go here. It’s geared for community walking leaders but provides tips that are helpful in planning individual or group walks.
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Edmonton Lifelong Learners Association (ELLA), a registered non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers for mature adults over age 50, runs courses at the University of Alberta campus during the first three weeks of May. “There are no prerequisites, no homework or exams.” To promote this opportunity, ELLA has lined up “capable volunteer speakers who are ready and able to do 10 to 15 minute Power Point presentations or shorter version presentations”. To book a presentation in February or March, prior to the registration deadline early in April, contact Katherine Ward at 780-463-4607 or email stepkat@shaw.ca.
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“Your staff are the people in the trenches carrying out your mandate and interacting with your external stakeholders on a daily basis. Because of this and because (hopefully) of the passion they bring as employees in your nonprofit environment, they really are one of your most valuable assets.” To read about “a few ways to unleash and harness the creative energy that you know exists in the people that make your organization tick from day to day”, go here.
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Bingo and sewing are not favourite activities among seniors. The proportion of travel adventurers over age 85 has increased more than 70 per cent since 2004, and seniors report that reading, pursuing religious activities, bicycling, gardening, talking on the telephone, watching television, tennis, swimming, golf and exercise classes are all more frequent forms of recreation than bingo or sewing. To read more of Ten powerful senior living statistics, go here.
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“Organizations that can clearly and accurately articulate their financial story and resource needs are better positioned to make a strong case for support. In both good times and bad, your stakeholders will be more engaged if you can provide a data-driven assessment that links your non-profit’s financial health to its impact and accomplishments. This can inform strategic planning and guide leadership in making mission driven, financially sound decisions.” To access a Nonprofit Finance Fund self-assessment worksheet, go here.
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The Beverly Foundation has produced a Mentoring Guide for Volunteer Driver Programs that “helps experienced managers support the practical learning experience of future managers and staff who could provide transportation services to older adults. Topics in the workbook include key issues in community and senior transportation, history and governance of the service, and resource management and development.” To access the guide, go here.
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Large numbers of baby boomers will soon be able to give their time, skills and energy to non-profit and voluntary organizations but are the organizations ready to harness this power? “How can organizations successfully recruit baby boomers and encourage them to factor time for volunteering into their active lives?” The manual Volunteer Connections: New Strategies for Involving Older Adults was produced in 2001 “to help prepare non-profit and voluntary organizations to recruit, train and retain volunteers age 50+”. If you’re not familiar with this resource, go here.
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Should charities develop businesslike efficiency? Or do they legitimately operate in ways that are more intangible and less-easily defined? The Wall Street Journal presents both arguments. To read them, go here.
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“Seniors today are looking for high-tech offerings in their residences. From wireless availability to health monitoring systems, technology is one of the key trends in the senior housing industry. Seniors and their families see wireless access as more of a necessity than a luxury, since the computer is a way to get information, connect with family members, and go through daily life.” For more in Seniors Housing News, go here.
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“Two groups could very well end up in a political war for dwindling public resources, with the elderly fighting for economic benefits in order to ward off poverty and younger people pushing for education and training benefits in order to avoid falling into poverty. This is a war that need not be fought, and can only be avoided if older adults participate in the making of public
policy and the shaping of public opinion.” To read the opening keynote address by James A. Joseph, Leadership and Older People: Ageing as an Asset, at the first International Conference on Age Friendly Cities in Dublin, Ireland, go here.
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“Earn a certificate in Dementia Care from home!” NorQuest College’s program is online. “You will be guided through an in-depth exploration of dementia and the scope of care required. Units include Preparing to be a Guide, The Journey Begins, Fuel for the Journey, Uncharted Territory, Safety First and Journey's End.” Call instructor Arlene Wolkowycki for more information at 780-644-6361 or email dementia.program@norquest.ca.
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The Alberta Securities Commission provides free fraud prevention materials to help seniors learn to protect their retirement funds and avoid investment scams. The materials include brochures, a DVD and accompanying checklist handouts. To examine the resources, go to www.albertasecurities.com. To order them, email checkfirst@asc.ca.
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Meals on Wheels offers a Shop 4 U personal shopping service for seniors in Edmonton. The fee is $25 per one-and-a-half hours plus the cost of the items purchased. “This fee includes travel time, parking, shopping and delivery right to the door. Our personal shopper is a trusted five year volunteer at Meals on Wheels, has a security clearance, loves seniors and is a young and energetic shopper.” For more information and to book the shopper, call 780-429-2020. For a complete list of Meals on Wheels services, go here.
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Volunteer Canada provides an introductory workbook on Baby Boomers – Your New Volunteers: Rethinking Your Organization’s Approach to Baby Boomer Volunteers. To read it, go here. “Baby boomers have the potential to become a social resource of unprecedented proportions.”
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Seniors’ centres offer a “vital service” and act as “community hubs providing resource information, services and critical support to older adults”. To read more of Edmonton’s Seniors’ Centres Plan 2011-2021, including a review of existing seniors’ centres, a summary of proposed capital improvements to existing seniors’ centres, analysis of seniors’ needs in areas of the city without a seniors’ centre, and recommendations related to capital requirements for seniors’ centres and services for older adults, go here.
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Information is available on How to Safely Help Someone to Get Up (go here) and How to Get Up From the Floor by Yourself (go here). These are both included in the Take Action: Prevent a Fall Before it Happens book produced by Alberta Health Services and on the Finding Balance Alberta website (go here). When helping someone else get up, no one should be physically helping the fallen person up, either by lifting or pulling them up. Doing so could risk injury to the helper. The instructions are really to guide the fallen person. If that is unsuccessful, then other help must be summoned.
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Information on how seniors can get up safely after they have fallen and how staff can assist seniors in getting up without risking injury to themselves is also provided in an Alberta Health Services video. To view it (it’s less than two-and-a-half minutes long), go here and click on the video link (third item on the page).
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Hundreds of Alberta adults with dementia, stroke-related impairments and other neurological disorders are regaining the ability to communicate effectively thanks to a program offered in Edmonton. The program supports adults in long-term care, a
supportive-living facility or in home care who have communication impairments of varying severity. To find out more, read an article on Alberta Health Services’ website by going here. The program has helped more than 250 adults, mostly seniors, since 2009.
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Senior-serving agencies are invited to use locally-generated information on falls prevention and elder abuse prevention in their newsletters. To access articles on falls prevention recently submitted to the Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council for this purpose, go here. For articles on elder abuse prevention, go here. You are welcome to use these articles in whole or in part for the benefit of your seniors.
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