Still assisting seniors during the pandemic

By Letter to the Editor on August 12, 2020.

In response to the snide and uninformed Roast from July 27 re: LSCO and Nord-Bridge (correct spelling), I offer the following: Although LSCO closed its doors to the public on March 13, in order to help stop person-to-person spread of COVID-19, we continued to provide necessary services to our members and the community.

Our almost full complement of staff were very busy: Our chefs continued to provide Meals on Wheels for over 130 customers – who were supported by our MoW support worker and volunteers; our program/fitness department provided email workouts and online classes (some recorded and some live!); our front desk staff, assisted by other staff , completed over 1,500 wellness checks on our members and were reassuring voices when people called us; the LSCO social worker and her new seniors system navigators provided face-to-face and telephone support to seniors requiring their help.

These three have also partnered with support workers at Nord-Bridge and Lethbridge Housing Authority to provide a broader reach into the community; LEARN case manager continues to provide crisis support and links to services for those experiencing elder abuse; the LSCO volunteer co-ordinator completed wellness checks with our volunteers and worked with our social worker to get our volunteer income tax program (by telephone) operational; Adult Day Program co-ordinator completed wellness checks with members and Adult Day Program participants.

Our finance tech is our very own jack of all trades – in addition to her regular duties, she helped in the kitchen and with MoW; this writer was involved with many virtual meetings related to service delivery and sharing of information – local services co-ordination effort of over 100 people from approximately 50 helping organizations, Alberta Age Friendly Communities of Practice, Alberta Seniors and Housing stakeholders, Minister of Seniors and Housing Advisory Committee, Alberta Association of Seniors Centres, Pan-Canadian Age Friendly Communities Reference Group, Canadian Urban Institute webinar panelist, and CORE Alberta webinar panelist and discussion group facilitator.

LSCO’s operations manager produced a reopening plan that is so thorough it has been shared provincially and nationally, and her work on making our facility safe for everyone is exemplary, to say the least. Additionally, this writer and the Nord-Bridge executive director have been in regular contact throughout the shutdown. Perhaps the Roaster could have used their time better and actually called LSCO or Nord-Bridge to find out what was going on.

PS. None of the above was related to this writer serving on city council.

Rob Miyashiro

Executive Director, LSCO