List of associations helping seniors in BC

I was thinking it might be a good exercise and perhaps some fun to prepare a list of associations that help seniors, in BC. I started to put together a list and realized that it was close to Mission Impossible. Helping seniors is a growing business and there are many organizations and businesses that proport to held or advocate on behalf of seniors. Far too many to list and to make sense of in the time that I wanted to allocate to this task.  Here are a few of the organizations I found with a little information on them from the web.

The Office of the Seniors Advocate monitors and analyzes seniors’ services and issues in B.C. and makes recommendations to government and service providers to address systemic issues. The OSA was established in 2014 and is the first office of its kind in Canada.

COSCO BC - Seniors’ Health and Wellness Institute The COSCO Health and Wellness Institute provides free workshops to senior groups throughout BC. We currently have 41 workshops available for presentation by trained facilitators which provide practical information but are not intended to provide specific legal, medical or financial advice.

COSCOBC.org  Established in 1950, the Council of Senior Citizens’ Organization (COSCO) is an umbrella organization made up of many seniors’ organizations and individual associate members.   Registered under the Societies Act since 1981, COSCO has grown and now represents approximately 80,000 seniors in British Columbia.

COSCO is run by volunteers, with activities coordinated through an elected Board of Directors.

COSCO BC Connects people with the help they need. Community, social or government services.

The following organizations, and many others, are part of the Council of Senior Citizen Organizations in British Columbia (COSCO). This umbrella organization brings together over 75 senior organizations operating in the province, in addition to individual members who facilitate the process. COSCO is privately run by a board of directors and aims to improve the programs and advocacy efforts targeting seniors in the province.

           

The Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT)            

The Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT) is a corporation sole established under the Public Guardian and Trustee Act.

          

Nidus Personal Planning Resource Centre and Registry            

Nidus Personal Planning Resource Centre and Registry is a non-government, charitable society.

           

The New Vista Society            

The New Vista Society is a non-profit society and registered charity dedicated to providing care, support and housing for seniors.

           

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives           

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada's leading progressive voices in public policy debates.         

           

BC Network for Aging Research           

Our goal to provide opportunities for these researchers to collaborate in generating innovative aging research.

            

BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support            

An online resource for advocates, people on welfare, and community groups and individuals involved in anti-poverty work.         

           

British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre           

The British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC) is a non-profit, public interest law office. Its creation in 1981 reflected the fundamental belief that it should not only be the rich and powerful that are represented before our courts
            

BC Health Coalition           

The BC Health Coalition champions the protection and expansion of a universal public health care system. We are a democratic, inclusive and consensus-based network of individuals and organizations that span the province of British Columbia.

BC Forum  British Columbia Federation of Retired Union members            

BC FORUM, established in 1995, is the recognized voice of senior trade unionists in British Columbia and is a registered non-profit society dedicated to representing the interests and well-being of retired union members (and active union members age 50 and over), their families and spouses, and to continue into retirement the relationship, they have enjoyed with the trade union movement.

           

B.C. Retired Teachers' Association           

The BCRTA is committed to improving pension, medical and dental benefits for its members.

            

BCIT Retirees' Association           

This website is mainly for the enjoyment and use of BCITRA members, but comments are welcome from those interested in our aims and activities, or in the concerns and welfare of seniors.

            

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives           

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada's leading progressive voices in public policy debates.

            

British Columbia Government Retired Employees Association           

BCGREA promotes the welfare of all persons receiving a superannuation allowance under the Pension (Public Service) Act of British Columbia      

           

British Columbia Pensioners' and Seniors' Organization            

B.C. Pensioners' and Seniors' Organization is a non-partisan organization instituted in 1932 for the purpose if identifying and supporting issues of importance to seniors.

         

The British Columbia Old Age Pensioners’ Organization

The BCOPA is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to providing support to pensioners and to address issues that affect senior citizens in BC. The organization is particularly useful in helping retirees retain their pensions. The BCOPA also provides help and support to access Medicare and Pharmacare in the province. The BCOPA additionally offers seniors help with regards to taxation, housing and social programs. The organization is also politically active and promotes issues important to the wellbeing on seniors in the province, such as ensuring equality in consultation and improving health services. The BCOPA has numerous branches scattered throughout the province.

The Seniors Citizens Association of British Columbia

The SCABC is an organization “for and by” senior citizens of British Columbia. The entity aims to protect the rights of seniors and rally for social programs and welfare support that improve the living conditions of senior citizens in the province. The SCABC promotes the pensioner movement in the province in association with pensioner organizations

SeniorsBC.ca The SeniorsBC website provides information on programs and services for seniors offered by the B.C. and federal governments and non-profit organizations. The website includes information on health, finances, benefits, housing, transportation, tips for healthy living and other topics of importance to seniors. The website also includes online versions of this guide (the BC Seniors’ Guide) in English, French, Chinese and Punjabi, as well as the BC Elders’ Guide, which has been culturally adapted for First Nations and Aboriginal older adults.

SeniorsofBC.com is the website of the Senior Citizens Association of BC. We are an umbrella organization for and about seniors in British Columbia.

(a)          To stimulate public interest in the welfare of the Senior Citizens of Canada.  To advocate for pensions and a social security entitlement that provides the means to ensure housing and living conditions that meet the seniors’ needs for comfort and security.

(b)         To protect the rights and interest of pensioners under the Old Age Security and Assistance Acts.

http://seniorsfirstbc.ca/ Seniors First BC is a community-based, non-profit organization incorporated as a society in 1994 as the BC Coalition to Eliminate Abuse of Seniors. Following an extensive needs assessment to establish the first Elder Law Clinic in BC, we changed our name in 2008 to the BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support.

Alliance for a National Seniors Strategy  Close to 17% of Canada’s population is 65 or older. By 2031, Statistics Canada projects that one in four Canadians will be seniors.

With Canada’s population ageing, maintaining the status quo for seniors' health care is not an option. Our health care system was designed a half-century ago, and it has not kept pace with the issues of the elderly in Canada. Today, seniors need better solutions, services and support.

We need more voices to be heard if we want a national seniors strategy. We need the voices of today’s seniors, as well as the voices of tomorrow’s seniors. You can be part of the journey to a new system of care for all of Canada’s seniors. Help make change happen.

National Pensioners Federation  National Pensioners Federation is a national, not for profit, non-partisan non-sectarian organization of 350 seniors’ chapters, clubs, groups, organizations and individual supporters across Canada with a collective membership of 1,000,000 seniors and retirees devoted entirely to the welfare and best interests of ageing Canadians. Our mission is to stimulate public interest in the welfare of ageing Canadians. Our goal is to help seniors and retirees have a life of dignity, independence and financial security.

Pictures Can Be Artifacts to the Past

Do you enjoy taking pictures and collecting the photographs in scrapbooks, photo albums or online on their own special place? Of course, you do! Most people do and they love to take picture after picture of everything from a random night out with friends, to pictures of their family and children to photos of their vacations to every corner of the globe.

Why do people love taking pictures so much? Well, look at the reasons why you like taking photos. You like to take photos because it is a reminder of the good times and of the bad times. In essence, photos serve as your very own historical artifact to the past and allow you to remember events that have memories that fade with the passing years.

Pictures are personal artifacts that tell the story of you. You can look at other people’s photos and never really truly understand what they were feeling when the picture was taken. But you can easily take a picture of something and remember your exact feelings years later.

So, do not miss an opportunity to take photos at every instance you can. You never know when that moment will be snapped away from you, never to be seen again. Remember the faces of your children and relatives as they grow older and remember what your parents looked like while they were young. Photographs allow you to do all of that.

Also, pass on the importance of photos to your family and friends. They will most likely already be aware of the importance of creating photo artifacts, but you will want to make sure that they agree that taking as many photos as possible in life is a good idea. That way, they will possibly get a picture that you were not able to get and you can share in that memory with them.

Photo artifacts do not have to be overly mushy either. They can show the raunchy and crazy experiences you have had in your life and serve as a reminder of the good time along with the happy and sad times.

You can tell your family story through pictures as well. Photos of births, weddings, funerals and other family events will show a lot about the way you feel about your family members and how they felt about you at a certain point in time. That way you can remember your crazy Aunt Ruth after she passes away.

Taking pictures is probably one of the rewarding and fun things you can do in your life. Now with different photo editing software, you can do things to your photos that you never even thought was possible. Take your photo artifacts to the next level and create a history of your family that can be viewed for years to come by you, your family, your children and anyone else who would care to see the history of you and your life. Let the photos tell the whole story.

Strange Artifacts Abound!

We have become familiar with the term artifacts and what that means. Usually, things like animal bones, arrowheads, ancient documents and complex statues are what comes to mind when we think of things like artifacts. Here is a list of several strange artifacts that have been found over the years:

Strange Fossils: Modern science has led us to believe that people have not been around in our current forms for that many years. However, researchers have found strange looking fossils that have defied traditionally accepted ideas. Like for instance, several handprints and footprint imprints have been found that scientists have dated back millions of years. This is much longer than people have been thought to be around. There has even been a fossil unearthed that looks like a man wearing a sandal that appears to also be several million years old. Who can explain it! No one, yet.

Metal Spheres: People have been digging up odd metal spheres in Africa for years now. These metal spheres are perfectly round and some have designs etched into them. No one can explain what they were used for, but one thing is for certain. They have been around for billions of years and do not look like they are going anywhere anytime soon.

Ancients Discs: Researchers have unearthed amazing looking gold discs in Chinese caves that look to be an ancient version of records. What were they used for? I guess we will probably never know.

Ancient batteries: Researchers have found examples of batteries developed by ancient people in the Middle East that are similar to that of the batteries of today. Amazing to think of the technology that could have existed millions of years ago.

Aircraft Shaped Artifacts: Scientists have unearthed artifacts in Egypt and South America, two entirely different continents that are shaped unusually similar to modern aircraft. Did they have the technology and the know how to make a flight back then? We will probably never know.

Huge Spherical Balls: Balls, perfectly circular, have been found in the jungles of Costa Rica and Central America for decades. Some of these weigh a few ounces, others a few tons. Though they are clearly man-made, it’s not clear what purpose they actually served for the people who made them.

The list of strange fossils can go on and on and the debates that go along with them will last forever. What can we make of the strange findings of scientists and researchers? Well, civilizations could have been much more advanced that we have previously given them credit for. Or, other beings have inhabited the Earth earlier than we realize. Who really knows for sure? One thing is for certain: it is pretty amazing what ancient people could do and what similarities we have with them now. These artifacts will continue to amaze us for thousands of years to come.

Just Face It, Your Kids Think You're an Artifact

Do you remember when you were young and you felt like you would never grow up? Thirty seemed like an old age and sixty was really, really old and you would not have to worry because it would take forever for you to get there anyway.

You also thought your parents were artifacts who must have been born in the Stone Age. They had no clue about what you liked and what kind of problems and issues you faced every day in your life.

Well, you did grow up, and quickly. Now you are over sixty and have a couple of grandkids who are likely thinking that you are an artifact. You, however, may think that you have made a conscious effort to keep your kids and grandkids from thinking that you and your spouse are artifacts.

But it is not going to work, no matter how hard you try. You can think you are an amazing grandparent who totally understands what your kids and grandkids are feeling and going through because you went through it to at a time. But they do not think that way.

They think you are an old geezer who would not understand what they are going through in life even if it bit you in the pants. Do not fret about it. It is human nature and it is futile to try and stop them from feeling that way. The best way to go about it is to simply acknowledge that yes, you are artifacts and you have no idea what is going on in their lives. Then let them try to figure out their problems on their own and eventually come back to you for guidance. Trust this fact, it will happen sooner or later.

The most important thing is to remember that your grandkids do love you but they may be going through that stage when they are too cool for everything and life is the most unfair piece of work ever. Those feelings will pass and eventually you will be best friends with your family again.

However, for now, let them think that they are the most amazing and smart people in the world who can figure out everything for themselves. Remember, you are just artifacts who would not know a real problem like they have and you could not possibly understand what they are going through.

Instead, simply sit back, relax and smile as they go through the drama that all people go through and laugh and say that you told them so when they ask you for advice.