SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Where will you live when you retire?
Maureen "Squeak" Hall first applied to AVENS for an apartment in 2003. It was another nine years before room could be found for her. - photo courtesy of Jeff Renaud
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Maureen Hall, or “Squeak” as she is better known, knows a thing or two about patience. After all it took her the better part of nine years on a wait list before she finally landed an apartment at AVENS – A Community for Seniors!
Born in an air raid shelter in Liverpool, Great Britain in 1943, Maureen’s parents, who met during the war, settled in Burlington, Ont., in 1945. Maureen eventually made her way to Yellowknife, courtesy of Pacific Western Airlines in 1962. Like all good 'Knifers, Squeak had originally only intended to stay for six months while she assessed her options.
“I was on a baseball team less than 24 hours after my arrival!” she recalls. “I played for Team Frame and Perkins and Jean Piro was the back catcher.”
When asked about her career, Squeak will tell you that she worked extensively for the government and lived all across the three territories.
“I have a deep love for the North and Yellowknife because I have been blessed with an opportunity I may never have had elsewhere in Canada,” says Squeak.
Those opportunities included working as a spotter on search and rescue missions in the aviation industry and pulling night shifts at the Gold Range in the late 1970s, she says with a mischievous grin.
Squeak was also very involved in other community initiatives such as the Royal Purple Elks, Girl Guides of Canada and was president of the Legion Ladies Auxillary in 1969.
The good life that Squeak enjoyed in Yellowknife began to come under scrutiny when she began to evaluate the community, and realized that while she was aging the city really did not have the infrastructure to support older adults in their retirement years – a challenge that led her to consider moving away for good. Maureen notes that, “people in Yellowknife would traditionally move south to retire but I knew that I wanted to stay put.” The development of lifelong friendships and godchildren made her realize that Yellowknife was home and the decision to stay was final.
In the mid-1990s significant health issues forced Maureen to re-examine her future goals and living arrangements. She says that, ‘as a close knit community, many of my cohorts began to question where they were going to be after they turned 65 and retired?” The Yellowknife Association for Concerned Citizens for Seniors (YACCS) (now known as AVENS) constructed Aven Manor in 1987 and Aven Court in 1992, around the time when Maureen heard that another phase of the campus, Aven Ridge, was going to be built. She began to get involved and volunteered to help raise money for this and other initiatives, such as the Territorial Cottages.
In 2003, Maureen turned 60, and decided she would put in an application to live in either Aven Court or the Ridge. From that time forward Maureen says, “I would stop by AVENS every six months to check on her status on the list.” Every time she was informed that there was no movement in or out of the campus. Finally, in July of 2012, Squeak was contacted by the AVENS administration to let her know that a unit had come available! “Feelings of elation, relief, and an alleviation of pressure,” is how she described her mood the day she got the good news.
When told that the current list has more than 40 applicants and that AVENS typically accepts two admissions each year, Squeak isn’t surprised.
“If it took one person nine years to get in here, at that rate the wait time will likely be 17 to 20 years for an age-friendly suite,” she says.
Squeak is quick to advise other 'Knifers who are planning to retire to, “book your spot soon, because it may take a while.” At the end of the day, Squeak is concerned with the growing number of long time residents who won’t have a place to call home.
She is slow to respond when asked, what is the best way forward?
“Honestly’ she says, ‘it is the collective responsibility of the Government of the Northwest Territories, the federal government, and the municipality to support a long range plan that builds capacity for older adults.”
At the end of the day, AVENS has the background, track record, and expertise to play a critical leadership role in the development and management of new infrastructure. But, she adds, “with the anticipated growth in the seniors population we need to do more now to help longtime 'Knifers like me stay in the North.’”
Jeff Renaud is the chief executive officer for AVENS – A Community for Seniors
