Bette Northover is sharp, independent and happy at the age of 97 and loving life at Grove Park Home.
She has her four children to chat with but knows there are many seniors who lead isolated lives without family contact or visitors.
“I think there are probably a lot of seniors that are not as lucky as we are in this nursing home because they’re lonely,” said Northover.
“Kathy Crump, 58, a resident of the Coleman Care Centre, was alone for the holidays.
“I wasn’t going to see anybody at Christmas, and that was my first Christmas here,” Crump said. “It was lonely. I didn’t know what to do. I went wandering around and when I came back, sitting on my bed was this big bag.”
The gift had been left by Seniors Wish.
“I couldn’t believe it, it was a Christmas gift,” Crump said. “It just made my day. This was better than having my family, because they gave something of their hearts to someone they didn’t even know. There’s not a lot of people out there who do that.””
Read the full article and see Bryans videos Eliminating Isolation and Loneliness in Old Age.
Bonnie Davies of the Barrie Kinettes presents Barb Richards of Senior Wish with a fantastic cheque
“When you are 87 years old and you’ve already climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, walked across England, spent 22 days hiking in China and completed two half-marathons, what’s next?
For Barrie’s Gloria Ruttkay, it will be the Edgewalk at Toronto’s CN Tower thanks to Senior Wish.”
Thanks to Wendy King for the full article.
“Joe Lugosi was moved to tears as people lined up along the sidewalk outside his Barrie home to celebrate his 90th birthday.
“We made up our mind that we had to do something special to wish Joe a happy birthday on his 90th birthday,” said Bonnie Neely, Senior Wish Association director and treasurer.
Mr. Lugosi stood holding balloons with his voice trembling as he thanked everyone.”
Special Thanks to Chris Garry and Kim Phillips of CTV News