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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknife is not immune to the issues surrounding Canada's aging population and action needs to be taken before problems amass, according to Avens' new chief executive officer.

Avens' new CEO said Yellowknife needs to build more infrastructure to accommodate the rapidly growing number of seniors. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo

Across the country the population of residents ages 55 to 85 is rapidly growing and those numbers will continue to rise throughout the next decade, putting strain on services for seniors, said Jeff Renaud.

"Every community I've gone to and worked in across Canada from Ontario to the West we are all faced with the same challenges," he said.

Yellowknife, he said, is already in a critical state of need for supportive housing for seniors. There is a seven-bed wait list for both the territorial dementia unit and Aven Manor, while the list for Aven Court is considerably longer.

"For the courts, our subsidized facility ... last year we had 35 applicants on a wait list and we only took two people in so at that rate we are looking at 10 to 17 years for people to get into subsidized housing for seniors," said Renaud, a gerontologist by trade.

Renaud started working at Avens, a non-profit organization focused on promoting better care for seniors, seven weeks ago. The Ontario native and father to an 11-month-old daughter has a background in long-term care as well as retirement community living, and specializes in dementia care.

His interest in the field, he said, was sparked by his time volunteering with people with cognitive impairments and dementia. And also his own experience with his family.

"My mom wasn't happy with the health care for my grandpa so we moved him away from the hospital, the facility he was living at and brought him home," he said. "Our grandma came and lived with us as well and we all kind of pitched in and did what we could to make sure they were happy."

Renaud said he took the job with Avens because the organization has been ahead of the game with its effort to provide care options to adults throughout the aging process. However, more needs to be done across the territory, he added.

"We do what we can but it's not in my estimation, as a newcomer and as a professional in the area of seniors aging and health care, we just don't do enough," he said. "I don't think that we are adequately prepared for the future."

During his time as Avens' CEO, Renaud said he would like to work with community organizations and the GNWT to create a long-term plan to address the problems surrounding the territory's growing number of seniors, as opposed to just slapping a Band-Aid on the issue.

"Let's be proactive and build enough infrastructure that can continue to support older adults and provide them supportive housing for the next decade or the next 10 to 20 years" he said.

"We have to invest in education and we have to invest in teaching people how to be an active and willing participant in things like preventive health care. I used to say, you can sit on the sofa and eat six bags of chips and drink six pops everyday but you have to be able to know that's not going to be healthy for you over the course of a lifetime."

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