‘Staying connected never gets old’

A new social isolation awareness aims to increase inclusion for older adults and strengthen communities.

Age-Friendly Calgary and partners launching a new campaign with the goal of facilitating social connections.

For older adults, social connection and community support are essential pillars to ensuring a healthy and happy life. Trying to maintain these connections can be difficult at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic. As we continue to move forward, more and more resources and campaigns have emerged to help combat social isolation and help older adults continue to thrive.

Cathy Hume, president, Calgary Seniors Housing Forum Society, shares that “we all never imagined we would be in this position two years later after the announcement of the pandemic. Social isolation and mental health challenges remain an area of great concern to us all.”

In response to these serious concerns, Age-Friendly Calgary and partners have come together to create a social isolation awareness campaign that provides useful resources and information for people of all ages to utilize.

“Social isolation and mental health challenges remain an area of great concern to us all.”

“Age-Friendly Calgary and community partners have worked together to develop a campaign based on kindness and connection, with the intention of sparking new relationships between people,” explains Annastasia Stevens with the Calgary Seniors’ Resource Society. “Although the campaign is intended to benefit older adults, it has wider appeal, as well. Kindness and connection are important for everyone — regardless of age. What the campaign is really about is increasing inclusion for older adults and strengthening communities. Our campaign tagline says it all: “Staying Connected Never Gets Old.”

Prolonged social isolation and loneliness can negatively impact an older adult’s physical and mental health. Older adults are at higher risk for social isolation and loneliness due to the changes in health and life circumstances that can occur over time and while many seniors were at risk of becoming socially isolated before distancing measures were implemented, there is an opportunity to help prevent prolonged social isolation and its associated impacts for older adults during the pandemic.

“The goals of the campaign are to educate Calgarians about the impacts of social isolation on older adults and facilitate connections. Our aim is to promote the role we can all play in making meaningful social connections, whether it’s with a neighbour, a friend or a family member who is at risk of social isolation,” Stevens says. “As the  campaign has developed, this imagery around red yarn has emerged. I think we see it representing connecting, caring, compassion … and also the symbolism of knitting, weaving, tying a bunch of loose string together to create a cohesive, strong, resilient fabric. The red yarn idea really demonstrates what’s at the core of the campaign warmth, love and human connection. We’re hopeful the red yarn idea will catch on and that people will make crafts or projects with red yarn and tag them with #stayconnectedyyc.”

There is an opportunity to help prevent prolonged social isolation and its associated impacts for older adults during the pandemic and while the campaign’s progress has been slightly hampered by the frequent shifting required to keep up to COVID, Age-Friendly Calgary is seeing positive signs that the campaign is picking up momentum, and are hopeful that this energy will continue into the spring and beyond.

For those interested in accessing resources or taking part in the campaign, there are many opportunities to do so. “There are so many ways to get involved in this campaign! We truly have something for everyone,” Stevens says. “We know that pandemic burnout is a struggle for many, but the beauty of this initiative is that something as simple as stopping to chat with an older adult you pass by on the street is contributing. We’ve developed a whole set of wonderful resources to give people (and organizations) ideas and inspiration.”

For more details, visit Calgary.ca/StayConnected or call 311 and request Age-Friendly Calgary

~ Article published in the Calgary Herald (January 29, 2022 edition)