{"id":7715,"date":"2024-08-21T13:38:36","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T16:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=7715"},"modified":"2024-08-21T13:38:36","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T16:38:36","slug":"region-of-queens-considers-full-time-senior-safety-co-ordinator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/08\/21\/region-of-queens-considers-full-time-senior-safety-co-ordinator\/","title":{"rendered":"Region of Queens considers full-time senior safety co-ordinator"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Shelley Walker is Queens County’s senior safety co-ordinator. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n

Queens County could be getting a full-time seniors\u2019 advocate by the end of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

At a recent regional council meeting, councillors voted to ask for a staff report on making the senior safety co-ordinator a full-time position with the Region of Queens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Right now, that job is overseen by the non-profit Queens Care Society.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is funded with a $25,000 grant from the Nova Scotia government, which is enough for three days a week. The society also receives $5,000 from the Region of Queens. The Queens District RCMP gives in-kind supports such as a cell phone and office space.<\/span><\/p>\n

The society says it doesn\u2019t have enough money to turn it into a full-time position. Shelley Walker is the current senior safety co-ordinator. There has been a part-time co-ordinator in the region since it was created more than 15 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

The co-ordinator helps promote senior health, safety and independence, working with older residents to help them stay in their own homes. The co-ordinator helps with medical referrals, transportation, food insecurity and other concerns of seniors living on their own.<\/span><\/p>\n

Representatives from the Queens Care Society appealed to councillors last week to make it a full-time position with the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grant Webber, chairman of the society, told councillors that there\u2019s great demand for the free service. But the current part-time position can help only about 7.5 per cent, or 250, of the 3,300 Queens County residents over 65.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said other senior safety co-ordinators around the province are full time, supported by the province, municipalities or non-profit groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

Webber asked that the region hire the co-ordinator on a full-time basis, covering benefits and expenses and providing office space.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA part-time position is not enough to address the assistance and does not enable the co-ordinator to be proactive with education and check-in calls. All other co-ordinators in Nova Scotia are full time and either employed by the municipality or through foundations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are hoping that the Region of Queens can also become the employer and provide the senior safety co-ordinator with the stability required to support seniors here in Queens County.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Al Doucet, a member of the Queens Care Society, said Walker does a commendable job now for seniors in the region. He said she could do so much more as a full-time employee of the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve watched what Shelley does for this community,” he told councillors. “There’s all kinds of people that would do this, but I can tell you that Shelley does beyond what is needed.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors seemed receptive to the idea of bringing the position under the municipality\u2019s umbrella.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Darlene Norman said the part-time position is funded until the end of the year, but that there is some uncertainty around whether it would continue after that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Norman said the details would have to be worked out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it is necessary that there be more investigation to determine who such a staffer would report to, is there a requirement to do a job posting, … salary range, things such as cars, all those things we would have to know to responsibly vote on those things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton said she wanted to make sure that councillors got a staff report in time to make a decision about the position before the end of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make sure that that position is protected and it\u2019s not a bunch of frantic, going around trying to figure out last-minute, so I think we need some clear timing.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Norman made a motion for staff to report by council\u2019s first meeting in October on the municipality taking over responsibility for the senior safety program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/seniorsafetyaug2024.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queens County could be getting a full-time seniors\u2019 advocate by the end of the year. At a recent regional council meeting, councillors voted to ask for a staff report on making the senior safety co-ordinator a full-time position with the Region of Queens. Right now, that job is overseen by the non-profit Queens Care Society. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[356,79,2570,95,664,49,24,2569,2309],"class_list":["post-7715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-al-doucet","tag-darlene-norman","tag-grant-webber","tag-maddie-charlton","tag-queens-care-society","tag-queens-county","tag-region-of-queens","tag-senior-safety-coordinator","tag-shelley-walker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7717,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715\/revisions\/7717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}