Seniors’ centres can do more as wellness hubs, top geriatrician says

OTTAWA — Ontario has nearly twice as many seniors’ activity centres as hospitals, but they remain overlooked and undervalued for the role they play in keeping older adults healthy and out of institutional care, says the government’s point man on seniors’ care. Dr. Samir Sinha is proposing to give Ontario’s 272 seniors’ centres a higher profile and, perhaps, greater role as storefront hubs of preventive care, which, he says, would help reduce admissions to the province’s 151 hospitals and relieve pressure on its 618 nursing homes. In the long run, facilities such as Ottawa’s Good Companions Senior Centre even have the potential to save an aging province from out-of-control health spending, which last year topped more than $48 billion, Sinha said. He hinted that the elements of a 21st-century seniors’ centre could include programs geared to exercise, nutrition, chronic-disease management and prevention of falls. Making such aspects of healthy aging available to more seni…
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