Prince George is home to the fastest-growing seniors population in the province, according to Dawn Hemingway, associate professor in UNBC's School of Social Work.
With the help of the Prince George Council of Seniors (PGCOS), a study involving the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) into the benefits of home support services is underway.
"It's a real issue for us to figure out," said Hemingway. "A lot of us are planning to stay here and retire, I certainly am. So, how are we going to make sure that we have the kinds of services that we need and can stay as well as possible for as long as possible?"
Through a combination of interviews, questionnaires and group discussions, researchers will examine seniors' health status and quality of life, utilization of health services, volunteer workload, and service delivery costs.
"Has it made a difference in, for example, how often they do access health services? Has it made any difference in terms of service delivery costs? We're trying to look at the whole range of things," Hemingway said.
Through the study, PGCOS received a one-time grant to pay for a demonstration project to provide non-medical services such as transportation, social outreach and housecleaning to more than 100 seniors.
"Anecdotally, when we think about our families, one would assume that when people have these kinds of supports, they're going to do better," said Hemingway.
"The challenge is to have hard data that shows this and, as you can imagine, it's complicated because there are so many factors involved."
Several groups are involved in the project, including B.C. Home and Community Care Research Network, the UNBC School of Social Work, Northern Health's Primary Health Care Integrated Health Network and Home and Community Care, United Way of Northern British Columbia, Providence Health Care (Vancouver), and the School of Population and Public Health at University of British Columbia.
The project has been ongoing in Prince George since last fall and a plan is in the works to launch similar projects in Prince Rupert and Fort St. John this fall, about the same time preliminary findings from the Prince George project are available.
