We were extremely pleased to find out last week that great strides are being made to bring a seniors care home to Lake Cowichan.
It is very important to the Cowichan Lake area to develop somewhere that people can move to as they age out of being able to take care of themselves in their own homes.
Many people in the Lake area have lived here their entire lives. Others have moved to the area hoping that they will be able to stay here for good.
One snag in those plans has always been the fact that if someone develops dementia, or even just becomes too frail to live without aid, and they don’t have a family member to help and can’t afford private nursing, they are forced to leave the place they call home, just when they are most vulnerable.
Many seniors fear having to go into care and fight it for as long as possible, sometimes even longer than they should. In the Cowichan Lake area, no doubt this fear includes anxiety about being moved what must seem like very far from home to someone who does not have the ability to travel.
Moving a senior out of their community as they age can not only be disorienting, especially if a senior has some sort of dementia or memory loss, it can also be alienating and isolating. They are moved away from all of the family and friends that have formed the backbone of their lives. Their support network is now in another community. And let’s face it, even with the best of intentions, if people have to travel a significant distance, like up to Ladysmith, down to Shawnigan Lake, or even just to Duncan, they will most likely visit less often than they would if they just had to head down the street. Loneliness and depression are big concerns for the elderly.
A seniors home at Lake Cowichan just makes sense. We think there will clearly be more than enough demand to fill such an institution once it is built. The only problem may be that by the time it’s finished it may not be big enough to take everyone who wants in. A good portion of the population around Cowichan Lake is aging, and we bet people from Mesachie Lake and Honeymoon Bay to Youbou would prefer the option of a seniors home in Lake Cowichan to one well down Highway 18. There are also a significant number of people retiring to the area, so the seniors population promises only to grow in the coming years, as they Baby Boomers move into their 80s and 90s.
A seniors home for the area is a good investment.