When it’s nice out, Joan Somerville enjoys going out to the garden to sit and chat, and maybe sit and have lemonade and water the plants a couple times each day.
Forged, in part, from the parking lot of a strip mall, the new CHATS (Community & Home Assistance to Seniors) garden in Bradford opens up opportunities for seniors like Somerville who attend the organization’s day program.
“It’s beautiful out there ... I love gardening,” says the Bradford senior who helped sow the seeds and then transplant the resulting plants in raised gardening containers. “I do it at home and I do it here. This is my second home”
Modelled after the garden the non-profit created at its Aurora location, the garden patio in Bradford is designed both as a place where seniors participating in the adult day program can grow plants and vegetables in raised gardens and gather outdoors in a safe and secure space. Peppers, cherry tomatoes, dill and other herbs are sprouting in the four raised gardens and hanging flower plants partially protected by an awning add to the atmosphere in the patio.
“We really felt that the Bradford clients would also benefit from something, with additional programming, but outside,” said CHATS chief executive officer Christina Bisanz.
The adult day program at the familiar Holland Street location allows seniors living on their own a place to go. They may be socially isolated and wanting company. There are also seniors with mild to moderate cognitive challenges, frailty, mild dementia or other challenges, making it difficult to remain at home all day. It also provides a respite for family caregivers.
The program is available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for five days a week but many just come in for a few hours one or two days per week. It’s a place, Bisanz says, where seniors can be active, engaged and safe while participating in activities that meet their abilities and their interests. They’re also served a healthy lunch, have coffee or tea and cookies in the morning and a snack in the afternoon.
Anywhere from 20 to 30 seniors attend the day program on an average day. The cost is $25 per day and is subsidized by Ontario Health. Other subsidies are available for those who require it.
There is some flexibility for people who might need to stay longer and transportation is also available.
The garden is meant as an extension to the regular programming. It allows participating seniors to grow plants from the seeds and plant them in the garden, nurture them and watch them grow and then harvest them. The patio also provides a nice outdoor setting.
It was created through a $25,000 grant from the federal New Horizons program to support capital projects created by organizations that support seniors. The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury also provided assistance through its permits and approval process.
Day program recreation programmer Patricia Borg says the seniors are invited to reminisce in the garden at least once a week, "before it gets too hot."
“We’re just really, really grateful to the building owner to be able to do that,” added Bisanz.
CHATS is geared to provide in-home support and community services to help seniors in South Simcoe and York Region to remain in their own homes as long as possible. It serves close to 8,000 individuals and has a staff of more than 300, the majority of which are front-line staff such as personal support workers, drivers and caregiving counsellors. It is also assisted through a volunteer force of about 400.
But Bisanz says there’s so much more that can be done to help support seniors in the community.
“We know the population is aging and it’s aging pretty rapidly. The majority of people don’t envision a life in a long-term facility,” she says. “If there were more supports in the community to help older adults and their family members to live as independently as possibly we can keep them out of hospitals and out of long-term care. But it really takes an investment.
“We’re a long way away yet to be able to realize the benefits and opportunities that exit.”
