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THE HERALD Wednesday April 11 IBM Page Loneliness is a problem in Acton Regionwide survey may not produce results senior Loneliness is a major problem facing seniors in Acton a group of about citizens told representatives of the Halton Region s elderly strategic plann ing committee at a meeting held in the Acton Baptist Church last week And David Evershed of A R A Consultants which is preparing a long term social service and health service plan for seniors in Halton told the audience seniors across the region share their concern Solving this problem is one of the Region top priorities he said The elderly strategic planning committee hired A A con sultants to ask seniors across the Region what services they wanted implemented during the next years Research gathered by the consulting firm will form the basis of a report to be submitted by the planning committee to Regional council in September The committee is comprised of four senior citizens a care giver five health care representatives and five social service representatives The Acton seniors who attended the meeting said seniors themselves can t rely on so meone else to find them compa It up to the individual to join things said one senior The woman used the Golden Age Club in Acton and the many church lunches as examples of activities available to seniors But the group t have an answer for those seniors confined to their houses To this the executive diretor of the United Way of Halton Hills Arlene Bruce supported the use of volunteers who would visit the homes of seniors But Ms Bruce warned it s important to first en sure that the visitors and senior are compatible And ail seemed to agree some seniors prefer to be left along Mr asked the group for input on the availability of transportation for seniors in Halton Peggy Balkind of the Ac ton Social Service Information Centre said the group provides a van for seniors during the week but some seniors are reluctant to ask for the service Eunice a social worker for the Georgetown and OFFICE MAGIC Ge orgeto District Memorial hospital who presided over last week meeting said the study of services for seniors was started because seniors want to live in their homes as long as possible and home care is acknowledged as being cheaper than institutional care But one senior said seniors will only be able to stay their homes if the Region provides better home care during the evening Seniors can always go to their neighbors if they need help dunng the day but they are reluctant to call on them during the evening said the woman There is also a lack of suitable housing for some seniors said Ms Bruce There needs to be more housing that is a stepping stone from a house owned by a senior to a nursing home Mr Evershed agreed and two alternatives the Region is considering One alternative would be seniors sharing their own house The second would have a group of seniors shanng a large house Most at the meeting said the first alternative would be tricky because it would be difficult to find a suitable roommate They were more supportive of the second alternative It would provide the residents with a care giver This person would do the heavy chores such as the grocery shopp ing and be on hand if anyone need edhelp explained Mr The seniors agreed it is difficult to find people willing to do heavy chores even when they offer to pay the person A Georgetown senior said she had doubts a Halton Region elderly strategic planning commitee meeting held last week would pro duce any new programs After the meeting she com mented that a similar planning committee meeting two years ago produced no results A R A Consultants is preparing a long term plan for the health and social services of seniors in Halton Joseph Boronstein told the au dience there were problems region wide that have been discovered through a written survey last July and a random phone survey of seniors He ad the consulting firm is trying to obtain as much information as possible before it creates its plan and shows it to Regional council in September One of the major problems the audience saw in Georgetown was a lack of volunteers Betsy Cornwell Halton Hills COMPUTER SALES SERVICE IBM COMPATIBLE 386 MHZ meg of memory One 1 2 or meg floppy meg hard disk Monochrome Monitor Hercules SALE Fill DO St tin 2A THE CORPORATION OF THE Town of Halton Hills O Box HALTON HILLS Georgetown Ontario 873 NOTICE REFUSE COLLECTION EASTER HOLIDAYS ng the forthcoming Easter Hoi days all refuse and recycled materials will be collected on your regular collect on day GoodFrdoy April All al refuse r 13th Good Friday 12th 1990 eked up on Fr day Apr I be eked up on Thursday Apr I Apartment recycl b ns II also be collected on normal collection day Easter Monday April 16 1990 HAVE A HAPPY EASTER R Austin P Eng Town Eng Ad Hills Public Works chief librarian said volunteers are becoming an endangered species Another audience member said if people do not start volunteering when they are young they will find it tough to start after they retire Mr said recognizing volunteers as an important part of the workforce was one issue that came up in the earlier surveys Another main topic of discussion was the need for a Georgetown senior centre One idea suggested at the meeting is that a possible new arena may house a senior tre Mr Boronstein told the au dience many seniors turn to their families when it comes to heavy chores A senior noted that he needs help to shovel snow and clear ice from walkways He says the sidewalks should be made clearer Even taking out garbage can be a hefty chore another senior noted Another audience member com plained that most household clean services don t do windows Mr Boronstein said a particular for Georgetown was the access to services the rural areas J Inc WHEN YOURE HAVING FUN WHY RUN LARGE SELECTION OF NAME BRAND CORDLESS PHONES IN STOCK SAYO Panasonic GENERAL ELECTRIC Guelph St Georgetown Ont 8733310 In Business For Business I I Monday Saturday 5 rrt 30am WEEKLY SPECIALS GoldStar COMPUTER DISKS am engineered to the tot the maximum In He accuracy and reUbdty 699 PINPOINT PEN Uttra tine reinforced tip thai fine BOX OF 12 List 1 39 79 Sold In Box of DISK HOLDER Store disk In disk ray Div Mrs Included astatic transparent Holds disks 3U 1199 5 List 16 1399 HAND HELD CALCULATORPRINTER on oil print twitch piper ad vance vast profit key and automatic power oft feature Powered by four M In cluded 102 5006 List Paper Roll Guelph Shrift MUM 7 Georgetown