A spate of stories in this week’s edition carry a theme of seniors in their later years, often hidden away in the corners of our seniors lodges and eager to tell their stories.
In 2008, Statistics Canada ranked the Town of Westlock in the Top 10 for municipalities with the most residents over the age of 65.
Given that this is almost a decade ago and the population of the town has not increased much, we can guess that the town is blessed with plenty of seniors.
While the town has a clear abundance of elders, what’s sorely lacking are volunteers to help those elders get through their day-to-day routines.
It’s far too common of a practice to shuffle our grandparents off to the senior’s home and pay someone to take care of them. In many cases, as in the case of Kay Nestorovich, her offspring are approaching their autumn years and are having health problems of their own that limit their ability to help out.
But that doesn’t let the rest of the town off the hook.
These are the people who built Westlock. They helped grow the town, they volunteered at our schools, they came to our plays and hockey games, and now all they ask in return is for a bit of our company.
Westlock is renowned for its charity and volunteer work. It seems odd that there would be so few people volunteering to work with the elderly. These souls have seen so much that it would be a shame to leave their wisdom stowed away in the halls of our seniors’ lodges.
It is time for a generational exchange. Westlock’s youth and elders have much they can teach each other.
Far too often we dismiss our elders as a burden, but really they are our best teachers and we should honour them as such.
