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Aging in place

The changing face of Whistler seniors
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Shirley Thompson had to leave Whistler — she didn't want to, but she had to.

In 2011, her husband Michael became ill and, lacking a facility in town that could handle his medical care, he had to move to a care home in West Vancouver. Shirley tried to maintain a regular life in the town she and her husband had called home for 23 years, commuting to the city several times every week to spend as much time with Michael as she could.

But it became just too difficult. Driving up and down the highway can be trying for anyone, let alone a woman in her 80s. A few months after Michael moved, Shirley felt she had no choice but to follow. She sold their home in Alpine and bought another close to Michael's care home.

"We had no intention of leaving Whistler at all," she says. "We thought we would spend the rest of our lives together there, but when he became ill, there was no question. I wanted to see him as often as possible."

Michael passed away this past March at 85 years old.

Shirley says there was not a single day before Michael got sick that she ever considered having to leave Whistler for medical reasons or otherwise. Sure, she had an injury that prevented her from skiing — which is why they had moved here in the first place — but they had each other to depend on. They had friends, a home. A life. As long as they could manage their independence, as long as they could drive to the city for medical appointments, special shopping sprees and nights out at the orchestra, she figured they would never have to leave.

"When he became ill, things changed," Shirley says. "Things just...changed."

Her story is unfortunately typical. With few seniors housing units and limited access to medical facilities, Whistler is not a forgiving place for seniors (or anybody) with disabilities, chronic medical conditions, limited mobility or limited funds.

But this is beginning to change. Through the efforts of the Mature Action Committee (MAC) and Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS) — not to mention Whistler's general population — the town is moving toward finding a way for Whistler's residents to age in place.

Sue Lawther, president of (MAC), is whip smart and gracious. The 20-year local has made it her post-retirement mission to usher in a new age for Whistler seniors — one where affordable housing and accessible medical treatments are a reality.

"For Whistler, living here has been like a season's ticket," she says. "You need to renew it every season and once you get to the point where you require too many services you can't renew it because those services aren't here. Somehow, to me, citizenship in my community should not be a season's ticket."

According to the 2011 Canadian census, people aged 65 and over make up five per cent of the total population of Whistler. These 495 people contribute or make up nearly all of the volunteer organizations in Whistler — the Village hosts, the mountain hosts and the ski patrol. Many of them have lived here for decades and have carved their own mark into the town. They sit on council. They organize cultural events.

"We don't want to lose them out of this community," Lawther says. "They're part of the fabric of this community and they should be. It shouldn't be citizenship on a seasonal basis. Just because that season of your life is over, to me doesn't mean that we should have to go."

The main problem, above all else, is access to medical facilities should someone come down with a chronic illness. The Whistler Medical Centre is not a hospital. Doctors and staff can manage immediate care but if someone with multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease needs long-term care, Whistler lacks the resources to help them live independently.

"You do tend to feel like you're out there on your own," Lawther says, which is a big reason why she's devoted so much time to MAC. "I have felt, and still feel to an extent, that if something happens to me, I'm on my own. I'm really on my own. If I have a stroke and I need help, where am I going to go?"

Seniors throughout the entire province are facing similar problems. In February, following years of public and media backlash over its cumbersome medical system for seniors, the provincial government launched the Senior's Action Plan as way to ensure that the rapidly-increasing number of B.C. seniors has access to the best care, and are being assisted and protected while moving through the system.

While seniors here face these same challenges it is compounded by the fact that the services are sparse as opposed to being just difficult to access. The problem, of course, is all in the numbers.

Up until very recently, the number of seniors in Whistler has not warranted the investment for designated seniors housing or geriatric facilities. According to the 2011 census, Whistler's senior population has risen to five per cent of the total population from 3.8 per cent in 2006. In 2001, that number was 2.5 per cent, up from 1.4 per cent in 1996. According to the 1991 census, there were only 95 seniors living among the 4,460 full-time residents.

At five per cent of the local population, Whistler is way below the provincial average of 14.5 per cent, according to VCH.

"Despite what the census says about an aging population, the population in Whistler is aging less rapidly," writes Trudi Beutel, public affairs officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, in an email to Pique.

Beutel writes that future seniors care in Whistler in an "evolving process" and is being looked at from a regional perspective. Whistler's population is still too small to warrant residential care facilities or medical treatment centres. VCH has invested in care facilities for the region in Squamish, through the hospital and through the Hilltop House residential care facility.

Lawther is well aware that Whistler's population is too small for its facilities.

"We're fully cognizant that in order to bring the services here we do need to have the critical mass," she says.

Increases in the seniors' population are modest, as are the actual numbers of seniors when compared to Squamish's 1,640 residents (or 9.6 per cent of the population, according to the 2011 census). But an increase is still an increase and by 2036, the RMOW projects that Whistler will house over 800 seniors.

Most of them have made a choice to live here and, naturally, want to spend the rest of their lives here. Lawther, along with several other seniors interviewed for this story, say that it's taken many years for the RMOW to take stock of what they've needed in order to stay here.

Now, Lawther says that the current council is "more than coming around."

"They are much more open than they were 15 years ago when they basically told us to go away, that they didn't really want seniors in Whistler because they didn't have the infrastructure in place for them," she says.

But Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, who has previously served four terms as councilor, says the RMOW has never given seniors the cold shoulder. She gives special credit to the previous council, led by Ken Melamed, in establishing the Measuring Up Select Committee, a permanent advisory body working to address accessibility issues and finding solutions.

"We've talked to the issue of seniors housing and care facilities and different medical facilities, those topics have been kicked around for years," Wilhelm-Morden says, "but it's becoming more top of mind again, like anything having to do with the Baby Boomers.

"As this massive bubble of population goes through the system, it seems like the topics related to Baby Boomers become more pressing. That's what's going on now. It's just the recognition of the demographic."

In 2010, the RMOW conducted the "Whistler Through the Ages" report, which engaged community members of all ages to plan for an "age-friendly Whistler." The report found that all demographics faced similar issues: access to affordable housing, access to medical specialists within the community, and improved accessibility for people with disabilities or limited mobility.

But there are some Whistler locals who have made do all without any of that. Bunny Hume has been skiing in Whistler for over 40 years. She's been a full-time resident for 17 of these. She skis at least three times a week, and that's a bad week. She no longer takes jumps off the cornices or takes annual heli-skiing trips, but if the snow's good, she's up on that hill.

At 78, she's cackling with energy. The more time one spends with her, the clearer it becomes: she's positivity incarnate. Her husband Dick passed away suddenly in 2006 at age 73 and she decided to stay in Whistler, in the same house they shared in Blueberry, because she loves it. She loves the mountain air. She loves the people. Above all, she loves to stay active.

A fortunate by-product of this, of course, is that she's been able to stay in Whistler. As long as she stays physically and mentally active, she says she can keep renewing her season's ticket.

"That, I think, is the key," she says, sipping a cup of coffee at Burnt Stew Café in Function Junction. "When I go into town, people 10 years younger than me say, 'you should take it easy more.' Well, why, when I feel good? Why? And they don't see it."

Every Thursday (unless she's skiing), Hume takes part in Whistler's other MAC — the Mature Action Class, one of three seniors-oriented exercise classes at Meadow Park.

On a Thursday morning in late April, about 20 people between 55 and 80 turn out for Christine Suter's class. By all accounts, Suter's is the most intense. It's an hour and half of gruelling circuit exercise, the type that will give a moderately active 30-year-old aching glutes and very sweaty armpits. We're talking squats, lunges, sit-ups, spin cycling — you name it. The participants are impressively resolute — and flexible — for a group of any age. No one complains, except about the dance music but even these comments are kept to minimum. Sweat drips by the bucket full.

This class is booked solid every single week.

Suter, a spitfire personality with the biceps of a young triathlete, says that her classes are part of the seniors' weekly training sessions for the sport of the season. In April, the winter is melting away with a torrent of rains and their ski days are over. It's time to get on those bicycles.

"I get on them for not having proper form and they like that," Suter says. "They know that about me now. They can all do it. They're all strong and they can muscle through everything, in order to keep them living their active lifestyle."

In cities, even one as active as Vancouver, seniors have access to medical and geriatric services that they can rely on. In Whistler, seniors have only themselves. The more fit and active they are, the less likely they'll need to depend on services of any kind. The prevailing attitude, the very same that Hume lives by, is that in order to stay in Whistle they must stay active.

"(We)'ve tried to do another class, which was called a 'soft MAC,' where they got people that maybe weren't as agile as (the people) here (in this class)," Suter says. "Well, those people didn't want that. These guys don't want to admit that they're getting old. They want to be functional, they want to be active, and they want to be challenged."

Bob Calladine, one-time citizen of the year, self-described "old fart" yet certainly no slouch at 66, says there's a mindset in Whistler that life is never to be squandered, and they're obliged to think that way because they're still physically capable of following through.

He says, "If you're not active all the time — and that's active and physical; the two go hand in hand — you atrophy. You atrophy at our age, there's only one way out and that's in the old casket."

As part of their 2009 survey, MAC asked members to rate their health, from excellent to poor. The same survey asked them to list current medical issues. The study found that the people with the most medical issues also rated their health the highest.

"It's perception. It was really interesting," Lawther says.

"But as long as they could get up there and ski on a 20-centimetre day, by God, they were in great health."

There are, like in any community, the unreachables. Through Melissa Deller, Whistler's Senior Needs Action Planner (SNAP), MAC has touched base with isolated seniors that they never knew existed. These people have never attended social gatherings or MAC meetings. They have been, until very recently, invisible.

"It shocked me," Lawther says. "I had no idea there were people in this community who were frail, didn't know how to reach out, couldn't get out of their homes and needed help."

Deller, a very friendly and very knowledgeable 32-year-old, admits she has "no idea" how many isolated individuals there are living in Whistler, but she's made contact with quite a few.

Before her role was created, there was no one in the community to help seniors navigate through the Sea to Sky's various community services. At the time, there were disparate resources and community groups — many of them formed ad hoc — with little or no way for people to access them except through word of mouth.

"No one knew what was available, and if you don't know what's available it's hard to make decisions on whether you can or can't stay, or if you can get the care that you need here," Deller says.

In 2010, WCSS created the position in order to improve community connections between seniors and the organizations providing assistance, including Vancouver Coastal Health.

Her role through SNAP has been critical in nurturing a senior's culture but both she and Lawther say that a Whistler senior's centre is essential.

Whistler seniors have made do without one, forging their own social groups around the kitchen table. Club 50 Whistler, a social group focusing on events throughout the year, has brought many of the smaller social clusters together for vibrant (and, oh yes, very boozy) nights out, but nearly everyone interviewed for this story agrees that the culture has grown way beyond ad hoc gatherings.

"There is such a huge need," Lawther says.

In April, MAC received $16,000 through the federal New Horizons for Seniors Program to fund what will become the seeds of Whistler's senior centre. MAC will use the funds to furnish the senior's drop-in centre at WCSS. They will also purchase new laptops to run intergenerational programs and will invite high school kids in need of academic volunteer hours how to use, what Lawther describes as, "this friggin' equipment."

MAC is amidst a soft rollout of the program, with an official launch slated for September. In the meantime, WCSS offers the 55+ Drop In program that runs every Thursday afternoon.

Deller says her goal with SNAP is to use what resources are available — as limited as they are — and make them work for the community in the best way, and as seamlessly, as possible.

She says, "Whistler's in a unique situation because at this point, we don't necessarily have a critical mass but we need to create a foundation that will be ready for when the critical mass comes."

She says that in order for VCH to dedicate a specialist, a certain number of people will need to require the service. In order for that to happen, there needs to be a critical mass.

"It's a matter of, at this point, recognizing where the shortcomings are... (and doing) the best we can to meet those shortcomings, and recogniz(ing) what foundation we need to create for the future."

At the top of the list of these shortcomings? Housing.

Bob Calladine knows all about it.

He's sipping a glass of red wine in the living room of his spacious Emerald home. His living room looks out on a valley swamped with evergreen trees, an epic landscape that's difficult for visitors to steer their gaze away from.

For Calladine to pull his life away from it, well...that's something else entirely. It's a beautiful home but he knows as well as anybody that he and his wife, Sally, will grow too old for it eventually.

"At a certain point, you're going to need some sort of retirement home, of some sort," he says. "By the time you leave here, you're going to want something smaller. In fact that's what this whole bloody place was supposed to be, something smaller," he says, gazing up at the open, high-vaulted living room.

Housing has been at the forefront of seniors' issues for over 20 years. MAC was initially created in1995 to advocate for seniors housing units (though it has since swelled to advocate and plan for much more).

In other communities, seniors will sell their homes and downsize to a condo or townhome but in Whistler, where high real estate prices co-mingle with a bedcap, the options in town are severely limited.

Whistler's local community, despite the outsider's perception, is not a wealthy one (Lawther says MAC fights that perception frequently when applying for federal grants). The 2011census data for household income will not be available until 2013 but according to the Whistler Housing Authority, 62 per cent, or about 5,990 of the 9,600 residents, of locally residing employees are living in resident restricted housing — either rent-restricted or market-restricted housing.

But, Lawther asks, "Once they retire, they have to move out of employee housing, so where are they going to go?"

MAC is now advocating for 80 units of seniors housing that will be ready by the time today's 45-55 age group is ready for retirement.

There are now 24 available seniors units at Cheakamus Crossing — a legacy of the 2010 Winter Games and a blessing for the community. Getting the remaining 56 units built has proven very challenging. Lawther says that seniors units will have to be comparable in price to employee housing units to keep it affordable. To make that work, the developer needs to see a return on investment, so the units will have to be a developer's amenity to a larger development, or the land will need to be free or very cheap.

More units have been zoned in Rainbow but have yet to be built. There has been much discussion about building more units, along with a senior's centre, at the Holborn site — a large empty expanse beside the Whistler Tennis Club.

The status of that site is in limbo since the re-zoning application has been withdrawn, but MAC members argue the site is ideally suited for such a facility. It's within walking distance to grocery stores, the medical centre and all other amenities — including the ski hill — and it addresses many of issues of accessibility addressed by MAC, WCSS and the RMOW. Concrete plans have yet to be made, of course, but MAC hopes the centre may eventually include assisted living units.

Everything MAC is vying for is not in preparation for the seniors group currently in Whistler, but for the group coming up right behind and those coming behind them.

"It's significant," Lawther says. "What do you do 40 or 50 years from now when the Baby Boom bubble has dissipated? How do you make it flexible enough so you can transition back to something else? It's something that's facing all municipalities right now."

She says that Whistler's on "the leading edge" of senior's because it is starting from scratch. It is establishing a senior's community and culture in the 21st century — something no other, or very few, B.C. communities are dealing with.

"All other communities, they already have their seniors' infrastructure in place. They have their seniors' centres, they have seniors' programming, they have the Handy Dart that picks everyone up," she says. "And they have X amount of dollars to do that."

Whistler, on the other hand, now has the opportunity to develop a model that will take it through the next 40 years and allow it to transition. Lawther says Whistler now has the opportunity to establish alternative models for funding before a seniors' centre is established.

"We're not taking the candy away from the baby because we're starting from scratch," she says.

"We have an amoeba on the table that is growing with seniors and it can take any shape and form that we want it to take," she says.

In the meantime, some long-time Whistler locals will grow too old for the town. Shirley Thompson says she'll never move back. She's never even considered it. She's found a new community in West Vancouver that suits her needs at this time in her life.

"I wouldn't choose to go back. It's a younger population in Whistler. Had Michael been living, there's no question that we would have stayed on," she says.

"Of course, I was sad to leave but I knew it was the right move at the time."



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