This letter comes to you from Buckeye, Ariz., where I am presently house sitting for a while in my daughter's vacation home. It's a dirty job but someone has to do it. The weather is beautiful and warm during the day and cool in the evenings.
I'm sitting here in the computer room of the Buckeye Community Center , which is also the Buckeye seniors' center, and what a center it is. No membership required, you just have to look old and I can qualify for that. The center is open Monday to except state and national holidays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., offering everything that any senior could want. There is a huge dining area/games area, craft area/meeting area, a large kitchen that serves a lunch every day for $2 , guests pay $5 and there is coffee, tea and juices on hand all day. The menu varies every day and a program for activities and menus is printed a month ahead. They play card (Texas hold em Poker), they line dance, have exercise groups with a room with exercise equipment that helps to keep the residents that use the center fit and active. A library has most of the newest books (supported by the town of Buckeye library). They take bus trips somewhere every week and of course they have parties for birthdays, Christmas and some for whatever reason they decide.
They also have a computer room with six computers that are all online with computer classes that can be taken at any time. All of this is provided free of charge and it is staffed by the town of Buckeye's recreational, occupational and clerical personnel. These people design all the activities and programs in conjunction with a small committee of seniors.
The center itself is well maintained and transportation is provided to anyone who needs it with staff to help seniors with diet, housing and health care advice.
Arizona was always a needy state before the recession struck. There were thousand and thousands of people who had lost their jobs and in lots of cases had also lost their homes.
It has now started to regain some of it former losses with the help of the United States Government, but it still has a long way to go. Despite all that ,and the seniors tell me this is true, towns similar to Buckeye across this state have continued to provide these services to its seniors.
Now if a state such as Arizona can provide that type of service to its seniors despite the bad times they are suffering, why can't a "have" province such as Saskatchewan do a better job with its seniors? Seniors are not asking for a lot, all they want is some help keeping the doors of their seniors' centers open. A little help to pay their taxes and utilities would be just fine and would go a long way to keeping seniors active and healthy.
It takes only an agreement with some of the Crown corporations such as energy, power and telephone to create a new level of customers. Senior centers are not residential neither are they a business but they are essential to the lives of many seniors. A small one word change to the Municipal Act regarding property taxes, changing a "may' to a "will" in the forgiving of taxes would also help. That can't be too difficult. Seniors who have paid their taxes and brought up their families under difficult circumstances could be due a break, but it does seem we are always a low priority when it comes to a helping hand.
The Government of Saskatchewan has been promising a senior care strategy for a couple of years, but still there is no sign of that happening. We do seem to gets lots of words but always very little action when it comes to income, housing and health. After paying taxes all their lives and raising families it appears that the only thing we have done wrong is grow old. If growing old is a crime, and at times it appears so, then there are thousands and thousands of up and coming criminals on their way as they approach their "old age." Maybe its all those pre-seniors who should be expressing their concerns at this time.
As we continue to hope for some changes we should not forget to keep active and stay healthy.
