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A NEW force is changing the face

North Shore.

The criteria to be admitted to
this force is stringent, but if your
virthdate is 1944 or earlier, then
your number may already be up.

And if you haven’t done so al-
ready, you will soon be trading in
your 9 to 5 existence far the active
life of a senior citizen.

Senior citizens are a growing
phenomenon on the North Share,

adding a new twist to our com-
mnunite’s social and financial
makeup.

Gone is the traditional 65-year-
old mark cf passage into retire-
ment ard the golden years. Con-

of communities on the

ventional wisdom has changed
with the demograyhics to broaden
the senior citizen definition to as
young as 55 years old.

When the numbers are added up
residents over 55 account for 25
per cent of the North Shore’s pop-
ulation, according to 1986
Statistics Canada figures.

West Vancouver alone recorded
an astonishing 12,625 over-5Sers,
33 per cent of the district’s 37,995
residents.

Morth Vancouver city follows a
close second with 24 per cent, with
North Van district’s near 20 per
cent bringing up the rear.

With such figures, seniors are
becoming a force to be reckoned
with. Services for seniors are pro-
liferating. The government and the
private sector ure recognizing that
seniors are a stratum of the popu-
lation whose needs will only in-
crease. ;

But this is not to say that seniors
are not helping themselves. They
are increasingly their own best ad-
vocates and a bottomless resource
to be tapped for volunteers.

For instance, the Senior Citi-
zens’ Special Services is a seriors-
run group which helps other
seniors.

Started 14 years ago, Special
Services now has 70 senior volun-
teers who serve 120 to 150 clients.
This group provides a telephone
link to shut-ins, limited shopping
and rides to doctor and dentist ap-
pointments, and, ‘“‘most impor-
tant,"" the hairdresser, according
to past president Joyce Vallance.

West Vancouver
Activity Centre has an army of 400
volunteers ranging from retired
nurses to counsellors and nutci-
tionists.

Silver Harbour Centre ia North
Vancouver relies almost exclusively
on seniors to keep it going, said
president Tom Silva.

“*We are self-sufficient to a great
extent,’ Silva said, adding that
Silver Harbour draws on volun-
teers to do everything from
teaching crafts classes to washing
dishes after their hot lunch.

“We draw the Jine at pouring
cement,’’ Silva said.

Versha Anand, the seniors pro-

Seniors’

gram worker for the North Shore
Neighbourhood House, said
retirement is more a thing to be
looked forward to than it was in
the past. .

Much of the stigma of growing
older has beer eradicated, Anand
said. “Seniors are getting out more
and being seen as seniors.’’

Lynne Cove, coordinator of
North Shore Keep Well, calis it
“grey power,’’ adding that a new
image of ‘older adults’’ is emerg-
ing, where they are not seen as
frail but as people with a future,
who will grow and improve
themselves, as well as contribute to
the coramunity.

Many young retirees are also
appreciating the benefits of senior
life, according to Lynda Lyons,
director of West Vancouver
Seniors’ Centre. :

Although soree people, especial-
ly men, have difficulty coping with
setirement, she said many young
retired men are accepting the cen-
tre and want to be involved.

The three main senior centres on
the Morth Shore provide an ex-
cellent point of referral for seniors
as well as a focal point where peo-
ple can meet and build a network
of contacts and friends which ex-
tend beyond the centre.

-~- By Elizabeth Collings

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