Laura Stovel
Contributor
The strongest communities are those where people know and look out for each other. One of the great things about Revelstoke is the way people greet each other on the street and stop to have conversations.
We often say that if you want to walk to an appointment you need to leave early to make time for those connections. The way we connect and look out for each other can help ensure the security and dignity of vulnerable people in our community.
June 15 is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. According to the BC Association of Community Response Networks (BC CRN), as many as 10 per cent of seniors will experience some form of abuse and up to 12 per cent will experience financial abuse, often from family members or close friends.
In Revelstoke, social, community and health service organizations, government agencies, community minded individuals, local business and seniors have come together to form a Community Response Network. The main mandate of the CRN is to raise awareness of abuse and neglect, help community workers recognize the signs of abuse and identify those who can take action. But the CRN can go further than that. We can work with other community members and organizations to address immediate needs of vulnerable adults in our community.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, CRN coordinators Lisa Cyr and Reeve Christensen led Revy Helps, which worked with the wonderful volunteers of Revy Unstuck, Community Connections and other groups to help seniors out in practical ways such as shopping, shovelling snow and running errands. Now the Better at Home program, run out of Community Connections, is taking over the Revy Helps role and the Revelstoke CRN is looking in new directions.
One important need is supporting seniors and vulnerable adults during heat waves, which are becoming more frequent and more intense. In keeping with the recent BC Coroner’s report, which stated that more than 600 people died as a result of last summer’s heat wave, several City, health and community organizations are thinking ahead to supporting vulnerable residents during the next heat event.
Community members have a role too. We can look out for each other, just as we did at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you know seniors living in overheated conditions you can offer them a ride to an air-conditioned location if they don’t have a vehicle, lend a fan, or even invite them to stay in a guest room in your house for a few days if your home is cooler.
In the coming months, Revelstoke Community Response Network will be communicating ways to stay safe and cooler during the summer – and to help others stay safe. In the fall, we will hold workshops on protecting yourself against telephone and Internet fraud and we will continue with gatekeeper training that trains workers at the front line, such as retailers, hairdressers, restaurant workers and bank tellers, to identify possible elder abuse. As a community, we are strongest and safest when we look out for each other. That is something Revelstoke residents do well.
For more information, please contact Laura Stovel, the Revelstoke Community Response Network coordinator, at revycrn@gmail.com.
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