By Jim McKenzie
Ernie is 67. He lives alone in a sparse subsidized apartment.
The rent for his small one bedroom flat eats up more than 80% of his pension cheque.
Add to that his monthly bills for the phone, for cable, and the dispensing fees for his Parkinson’s medications. By the month’s end he often has no money for food.
Ernie relies upon food banks and donations of groceries.
“It is depressing, to tell the truth. I am not used to that because I always had money in my pocket,” Ernie says.
This is an excerpt from a story my wife, Avis Favaro produced for CTV National News.
It was an eye-opening journey into the silent and invisible suffering of many seniors in Canada.
If you haven’t put away money for retirement, you are faced with a grim reality. Life on Canada Pension and Old Age Assistance is a spartan one. Monthly payments vary from $1200 to just about $900 a month.
Here in Birch Cliff village, tucked among the affluent tree-lined streets, are likely similar stories of lonely and impoverished seniors.
These are the souls that “Seniors in Need” wants to hear about and wants to reach..
“They shouldn’t be in that position, they shouldn’t be in a state of impoverishment where they can’t feed themselves, medicate themselves and they have an awful end of life situation,” says Peter Cook, the founder of Seniors in Need, in an interview with CTV.
Last fall, Cook launched a sad and unusual competition. He and his wife Barbara run an elder care service. But they frequently heard stories of seniors so poor they couldn’t afford the necessities of life. So they asked social workers and doctors to submit names of needy seniors, offering $1,000 a month for a year, to the two neediest seniors.
There was an outpouring of disbelief that Canadians in their twilight years could wind up in such desperate situations. But there also was a cry of “how can we help?”
And so “Seniors In Need” was born. You could call it Canada’s first charity for seniors. What it really does, is allow people who see seniors in need to post their stories – and then allow people to donate. In some cases, it is a cash donation, Others simply need the gift of time to ease the pain of solitude.
Here are some examples of what’s online:
$1100 to pay for a below knee artificial leg
A 65 year old woman needs assistance to pay for an artificial leg- $1100 is the portion not covered by the Government. She has also had bowel surgery and now must also pay for colostomy supplies, a wheelchair and bathroom safety equipment which she can manage. She lives with her husband in Missisauga- he is on a limited pension as he has had a stroke.
Money to purchase a vacuum cleaner
An 86 year old retired woman who lives in Toronto with her husband under very modest financial circumstances is in need of a vacuum cleaner. The couple receives light housekeeping assistance at home, but their vacuum cleaner has been broken now for a couple of months. The carpet requires regular vacuuming to maintain a healthy dust-free environment. So she is asking for help with the purchase of new vacuum.
Client left with little to live on after rent and can’t afford to fix her dentures
Client currently receives $1100 from her CPP and OAS and pays $900 for rent – leaving her $200 to live on each month. She relies on an agency staff to bring her food from the food bank sometimes and is always anxious about food security. She can’t afford to pay for her medication sometimes to control her cholesterol and high blood pressure. Parts of her dentures are broken and would cost upwards of$2000 to fix. Even with the assistance of Toronto Public Health Dental Service, she still can’t afford to pay the $750 to fix her dentures.
I entered Scarborough under the search line. Nothing came up. But I know there are needy seniors out there in our community.
Names must be submitted to the site by accredited agencies like the Victorian Order of Nurses or health care workers.
If you want to donate, you give directly to the agency that sponsors that seniors.
If it involves companionship, you will have to go through a police check for security screening.
As far as we know, it is the first service of its kind for seniors in the world.
Let’s see if it can help seniors in our community. Click here if you’d like to help.
Written by Jim McKenzie – Birch Cliff resident and engineering consultant