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en0mistsuntuaugl9ncs 8week course minister trains lay caregivers by sandy hazell reverend albert revell is a oneman crusade searching for lay people to do nonsacremental ministry in nursing and retire ment homes clergy people are being pushed against the wall and have less time to visit long term care patients said the pastoral care coordinator of yorksimcoe ministries his organization is dedicated to the pastoral ministry of seniors in nursing and retirement homes rev revell stresses the new con cept of ministry offers a co operative way in which clergy and lay persons can share in the pastoral care of our aging popula tion its not a substitute it guarantees that all seniors can be assured of quality pastoral care whenever it is desired by them the idea of the ministry began six years ago when a concerned group of clergy in richmond hill met to discuss the spiritual needs of seniors in residence they found that busy parishclergy had little quality time for ministry to these seniors especially ex tended visitation on a onetoone basis three years later ysm was formed since then rev revell has been upgrading pastora4 care encouraging clergy to get more involved and training lay people in the art of visitation and ministry he is technically responsible for all the churches in york re gion and is starting to serve sim- coe region my problem is its getting so big im unable to fulfill my role he says using his 37 years of ministry experience he has designed and taught an eightweek training workshop to more than 500 people offered to groups of eight to 10 people the course deals with the spiritual need of elderly seniors especially those in institutions understanding institutional life establishing relationships rev albert revell care for elderly needed learning to converse listening skills sharing in grief and burn out are among the topics covered in the training session one of his goals is to create a support system for staff at nurs ing homes sometimes they barely get a deceased person away and some one else is in the bed how do they handle that trauma he asks clergy and lay volunteers who have taken the course are encour aged to meet monthly to discuss concerns fears and offer one another support working on an annual budget of 60000 per year yorksimcoe ministries was provided with startup funding from major de nominations it is now entirely de pendent on donations from indi viduals congregations service clubs foundations and business corporations as a nonprofit charitable orga nization tax receipts are avail able more diverse programs possible for seniors by alex newman markham senior citizens may find themselves doing something theyre not used to asking for help andrea ferrier field rep for the federal new horizons program says that seniors in the markham area have tradi tionally been selfsufficient and find it difficult to ask for assistance from any govern ment body claire tuckerreid of mar kham parks and recreation agreed wed like to encour age seniors to oversee their own programs and approach the town for assistance mayor carole bell has been concerned for some time that markham was not addressing the needs of its seniors at a conference in ottawa two months ago she learned methods that other municipa lities use to involve seniors in a recent meeting with about a half dozen in terested persons in the mar kham area ms reed and mayor bell offered the use of the markham arena board room for seniors meetings they both hope that more seniors will attend a needs assessment meeting to be held the end of september at the meeting seniors will be asked to suggest programs theyd like to see im plemented so far line danc ing nutrition lectures con versational french walking and skating have been put forth she added that the town doesnt want to duplicate established programs nor would it start new courses without senior citizens im petus we dont expect enough from our seniors theres no reason they cant direct their own activities and a 20 year old should not be in charge of planning programs for senior citizens she said because many men and women are retiring at age 55 and have led active business lives seniors needs are changing you dont just direct them to the craft table mrs bell explained they want to swim play badminton get in volved in fitness the seniors of the future are going to be even more energetic this new markham direc tive is hoping to channel some w m lit fb wimm pt mayor carole bell more help for seniors of the focus away from herit age centre in unionville and provide more opportunities for seniors from all parts of markham assistance is available to groups through the federal health and welfare depart ment but the motivation must come from within the group itself ms ferrier said she agrees that seniors activities are changing from craft- oriented to more fitness directed activities but even fitness requires more seniors involvement in leadership most seniors arent prepared to participate in an aquatics program when a slim trim 24 year old is in structing the class they are very conscious of their fi gures ms ferrier said senior talent is yet another untapped resource that has precipitated some provincial programs the senior talent bank for york region active in connecting seniors abilities to youth training programs is one of them ferrier says the organization has been res tricted to the yonge st corri dor in thornhill and rich mond hill but would like to ex pand into vaughan and mar kham senior talent banks recruit volunteers and link them with groups who can use their ser vices for example said ms ferrier a hospital may need 10 volunteers for chronic or intensive care wards seniors with a medical back ground then become involved in the hospital programs a current intergeneration- al program is in place in scar borough separate schools where senior tutors have had some success teaching work shops in business engineering and other skills heritage centre in union ville has also submitted an ap plication for funding of older age education this program would provide seniors the opportunity to expand academically ms ferrier said to date markham youth have been more vocal than seniors shes glad to see the towns involve ment in opening seniors eyes to available options and en couraging them to be more ac tive new horizons will provide seed funding for an 18month period to start seniors groups and for advisory councils who can prepare an overview of heeds in area these needs could include housing special services for the frail elderly and recreation the booming housing de velopment in markham said ms ferrier has created a strain on recreational re sources and heritage centre has reached its capacity the need is there and both the town of markham and provincial and federal gover- ment agencies are willing to help seniors make the most of these years but organiza tions such as these will only help those who take initiative major as majorette mayor carole bell led the parade into the canadian ex- ibition grounds wednesday to initiate markham day represented during the day were line dancers from heritage centre crafts from several markham groups and a variety of sporting and social clubs septembers 4 and 5 from 10 am to 2 pm in the automotive building another markham artist will demonstrate wood carving dorsey james teacher at mdhs is sponsored by giles tools the guild inn and the woodcarvers association of ontario sjoerd witteveen