Fifteen joined this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome Elena Dunn, Board Chair of the Salt Spring Senior Services Society (https://saltspringseniorscentre.ca/) located on Lower Ganges Road across from Country Grocer. After her Acknowledgement and a chance for everyone to introduce themselves, we learned what “excites and delights” Elena. 

Italian through and through, deeply connected to her heritage and family who arrived in Canada with nothing in the 1950s, she knows that her Italian temperament provides a strong foundation for the drive and passion she puts into our Senior Centre. Also a passionate reader, she has a post graduate degree in literature from the University of Toronto as well as a current compelling passion for history to better understand our origins as well as other factors that have gotten us where we are today. She is deeply concerned about our youth and the world we are leaving to them. 

This Senior Centre, a registered charity, began in 1989 when a few of our most prominent women gathered to create a more senior-supportive Salt Spring, largely driven by the social wants of seniors but also supporting some of their health needs. With no good place for seniors to live once they moved out of their homes, this group also turned that clear need into reality with the building of Meadowbrook. 

Located at 379 Lower Ganges, the Senior Centre, a green house is nestled in the trees, is on leased land from Greenwoods Eldercare Society (https://greenwoodseldercare.org/). With a strong and growing partnership with Greenwoods, Elena was pleased to report that the Senior Centre was able to support Greenwoods by paying for the removal of trees that had fallen at the Senior Centre. To further enhance this partnership, joint programs are being discussed including some offered at Greenwoods for those who no longer journey away from their home.

Our Senior Centre is well-known for Thursday lunches as well as its other social activities. With a very low bar for membership – $10 a year! – programs and services are aimed at the over 55 crowd but all can join and participate. With approximately 200 current members, over 1,000 visited the front desk this year (a 30% increase) and over 500 called, seeking information. More than 2,000 members of other groups used the Centre this year for their activities, an increase of 47% over previous years. 

Of all their services and activities, the Senior Centre may be most appreciated for its driving services. Most known for its off-Island medical rides, this service provides free round-trip transportation from one’s home to an appointment.  Most trips are fully funded by Island Health but, for some trips, the passenger may be asked to get a TAP (Travel Assistance Program) form from their doctor or to cover the ferry costs personally. Riders are charged no additional fees. Volunteer drivers not only drive, they also provide door-to-door escort help as well as waiting throughout the duration of the appointment. Less well known is the Centre’s offer of other rides for seniors in need, including appointments on Salt Spring. All of these driving services are provided by caring volunteer drivers. 

Islands Health support covers the cost of about half of all rides, and the Senior Centre funds the remainder – including on-island rides. With only a $10 a year membership fee, how are needed revenues generated? We learned from Elena that the investment of bequests some years ago has served the Senior Centre well. Recently, another $25,000 was raised through generous donations from both the Salt Spring Island Foundation and 100 Women Who Care. This additional funding has allowed the Centre to hire its very first paid part-time employees. 

Did you know that Salt Spring seniors comprise more than 33% of our total population with over 4,000 seniors documented in the previous census and guaranteed to be higher this time? Elena is committed to lead the Senior Centre into a new era to better support senior needs, and more funding is most certainly going to be needed. A first step in this new era to better serve seniors was the recently-completed Strategic Plan. Resulting recommendations were:

1. Transportation for seniors is a serious problem. Too many are isolated or drive when they should no longer be driving. A ride-matching system is clearly needed. This study suggested that there are plenty of underutilized vehicles. Unfortunately, there is no centralized dispatch system matching these underutilized vehicles with those needing rides. And, while there are available vehicles, they are not enough: Elena told us that none of our community-owned vehicles are equipped to accommodate wheelchairs. 
2. Information about senior services is scattered and extremely difficult to access. A centralized information source is needed. While the currently-available centralized, searchable, online databases of senior services are a first step, many seniors are not technically proficient, too often not able to find the information they need. Another factor in accessing available services is the pride many seniors hold dear. Some will simply not reach out to ask for help. How can their needs be identified and met?  
3. Senior services providers should be advocating with one voice, partnering on services, and seeking  funding together. 

As a result of these recommendations, the Senior Centre is already moving forward in two of the three areas. In transportation, with the help of a UBC professor, a survey documenting the needs of seniors has just been launched (https://saltspringseniorscentre.ca/introduction-to-transportation-survey/). Please complete it!  Those without access to computers can call the Centre at 250-537-4604 for assistance.

Concerning better dissemination of information, as a first step, Elena, a communications expert, has just spearheaded the development of a new website that now includes all you ever wanted to know about the Senior Centre. (Did you know that you can even get tax preparation help there?) It also provides an easy link to volunteer your time. . . .Volunteers are always needed! 

The recommendation to partner and speak with a single voice is complicated. Senior service are offered by a dizzying number of providers, with information about them scattered and patchy. Even during our ASK Salt Spring conversation, there were as many as a dozen senior services mentioned with which many participants were unfamiliar. . .and the group was comprised largely of seniors! How can senior service providers work together to access ever-decreasing funding and advocate with a single voice?

The need for a cohesive senior plan as well as a shared voice has been strongly advocated by Senior BC Advocate Dan Levitt in multiple local meetings including ASK Salt Spring (https://asksaltspring.com/2025/07/25/we-can-do-better-for-our-seniors/). When this proposal for shared advocacy was brought to a meeting of senior service providers, the response was varied and complicated. Many of these providers represent organizations that have been providing senior services for decades. These employees recognized that they could not partner with other organizations if it held the threat of a loss of funding for their organization – critical funding needed to provide these services. It was noted by a participant, however, that the incentive to partner may come from funders who are more and more frequently requiring collaborative applications. 

A conversation about this One Voice recommendation is just beginning, but the board has already developed some exciting inter-generational partnerships. Concerning collaborative advocacy, the Seniors’ board members will be discussing further exploration of the role their Centre could play as a key partner in developing this shared voice. Stay tuned. . . . 

Recognizing that our Senior Centre, despite the clear drive and passion of Elena, cannot do everything, participants asked what our community can do to help our seniors and even get the help we might need. Suggestions included:

• Advocate strongly for all seniors living alone to acquire some emergency alert system, whether a subscription alert service (many options here) or the one-time expense of a watch that detects falls and connects to emergency help.  
• When concerned about the well-being of someone, a Wellness Check by Island Health or the RCMP can be requested. While an important option, it is often a last resort.  
• Neighbours are important! While it was unclear whether our CRD Pod emergency system could be expanded to offer a system for checking on the wellbeing of seniors in the Pod, it was generally agreed that, in many of our micro-communities, neighbours are the best option for a friendly check-in visit, maybe even bringing a plate of cookies.  
• For seniors in underutilized homes who want to age in place but may need help with care or tasks, our Housing NOW home-sharing program may be an option. Interested in our Salt Spring program? (https://www.sgicommunityresources.ca/housingnow-ssi/). Intrigued? Contact Adam, Salt Spring’s Coordinator at: housingnowssi@sgicommunityresources.ca . 
• During our conversation, we also discovered a number of examples where laws do not meet the needs of seniors. One example was the apparent inability of those living in senior communities to legally share/rent their home to a younger occupant who may be able to help them stay in their home longer. Would one strong Salt Spring voice for seniors, partnering with other groups throughout the province, be able to identify and change agism in our laws?  

Our time together already over, we applauded Elena for her Italian fire, determination to better serve our seniors, tenacity to get the job done,, and expert communication and public relations skills. (Thank-you, Elena!) 

Just in case you are interested. . . .This report has been written by Gayle Baker, founder of ASK Salt Spring, currently also a Salt Spring Local Community Commissioner. It has been reviewed by Elena.