Report highlights challenges for B.C.’s rural seniors

On February 15, 2024, the Office of the Seniors Advocate released Resilient and Resourceful: Challenges Facing B.C.’s Rural Seniors. The report summarizes the challenges and disparities seniors living in rural communities face compared to people in urban communities. Challenges highlighted include: access to health care, assisted living or long-term care, difficulties with coordinating care, disparities in income and housing, access to transportation and access to community supports. The report suggests that a lower prevalence of dementia among seniors in rural areas could be linked to the low availability of doctors and diagnostic services in these communities. In response, the report proposes the following recommendations to address the challenges:

• Develop and implement:
  • A rural seniors housing strategy.
  • A rural health human resource strategy.
  • A rural seniors home and community care strategy.
  • A provincial long-term care and assisted living plan, based on equity throughout the province.
  • A provincial rural transportation strategy.

• Improve and better promote both the provincial Travel Assistance Program and Hope Air.
• Increase rural representation in government through the creation of a ministry or minister of state for rural B.C.

With the percentage of seniors living in rural communities expected to grow to 29 per cent of the rural B.C. population by 2032 and almost 250,000 people expected to be living with dementia by 2050, the time to start addressing these challenges is now. As the number of people affected by dementia continues to grow, the Alzheimer Society of B.C. remains committed to supporting people in rural communities through our network of resource centres, dementia information and accessible programs and services, including our First Link® Dementia Helpline.

Delivering on the report’s recommendations will require significant financial investment and collaboration across many sectors of government. We will continue to advocate for improved access to support services and resources for seniors living in rural areas, while continuing to work closely with care providers, community organizations and people affected by dementia across the province to provide information, support, education and training.