The Veiner Centre is now offering more support for seniors experiencing abuse after receiving provincial funding for the Safe Spaces program.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Senior citizens in Medicine Hat who may be experiencing elder abuse including physically, NEXUAL, emotionally and financially can now seek additional support after the province announced more than $2 million in funding to implement the Safe Spaces program in rural and mid-sized communities on June 15.
The Unison at Veiner Centre, along with similar senior community-based organizations in Hinton, Camrose and Claresholm, will each receive $10,000 in funding as part of the first round of the program to provide case-by-case funding for seniors seeking support.
“Elder abuse can take many forms, and our government is taking strong action to address it.” says Jason Nixon, minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services. “The new Safe Spaces program will ensure our seniors have a safe place to go if needed.”
The Safe Spaces program partners with residential providers in the community to offer seniors temporary safe lodging as well as support through local senior resource providers.
“The expansion into more communities will make a significant difference in the lives of those experiencing elder abuse across the province,” says Joanne Blinco, executive director, Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Council.
Larry Mathieson, Veiner Centre president and CEO, says the program takes advantage of infrastructure that currently exists in the community.
“We’re quite excited to bring this to Medicine Hat because it’s what I would view a very innovative but also cost effective model in ways to mobilize resources,” says Mathieson. “The residences, the lodges, the infrastructure is already there.”
The province says the funding is in partnership with the Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Council. Over the last two years the council has also funded the salaries of two elder abuse case workers at the Veiner Centre.
“That has been a big benefit, but also being one of the first safe spaces in the province is quite exciting to us,” says Mathieson. “It essentially provides us one more resource to support seniors in Medicine Hat.”
According to recent estimates by those caseworkers at the Veiner Centre, Medicine Hat has approximately 80 seniors dealing with elder abuse and seeking support.
To access the Safe Spaces program seniors can email to request support from local caseworkers at HelloMedHat@UnisonAlberta.com, or make a confidential call to the Veiner Centre at 403-529-8307 to speak with the first available caseworker.
The province is working on an evaluation model for the Safe Spaces program and will use data collected from Medicine Hat and the other first-round communities to evaluate its effectiveness, and is working on expanding the services to other communities in the province.
The World Health Organization says roughly one in six people over the age of 60 have experienced some form of abuse over the past year, and those rates have been increasing since the pandemic.
