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Partner Profile – September 2021

What outstanding effort would you like to share?

The Village is a world-class health and wellness facility located at Canadore College’s College Drive Campus in North Bay.  The facility – a first of its kind in Canada – blends Indigenous, Eastern and Western health practices. It provides a ground-breaking approach to educating the next generation of Canada’s health and social service professionals. The Village offers student-led clinics, custom-built classrooms and a traditional Indigenous ceremony space. 

What challenge initiated the effort?

The Village fosters a spirit of collaboration to enhance the delivery of community-based services. It inspires a new ideal for holistic care and healing across all stages of life that can be adopted by communities across the country. Our vision is to become a centre of excellence in healthy aging in the North.

Whose idea was it?

In November 2019, The Village received nearly $2 million dollars in funding through the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program. The Village Collective Impact Project has been working collaboratively with seniors (55+), Indigenous seniors (55+) and their caregivers, stakeholders, regional community organizations and agencies. The focus is on developing new models of healthy ageing and inclusion, aimed at improving outcomes of seniors and Indigenous seniors living in the Nipissing-Parry Sound district. The goal of the project is to reduce the risk of social isolation among older adults by promoting social awareness and supporting the participation of seniors, families and caregivers. The intergenerational approach is proving to be effective in combatting isolation for seniors.

How did it go from idea to action?

The Project’s plan was affected by COVID-19 and required project leaders to rethink how it might support the community more immediately. The pandemic increased social isolation and its associated risks of depression and other negative physical and mental health impacts. The Village Collective Impact Project, in collaboration with community stakeholders, launched three initiatives to support seniors – a reassurance calls program, a regional hub for Seniors’ Centres Without Walls and the Mobile Cyber Hub.  All of the programs are free for seniors and include COVID-19 public health measures.  Placement students from several of Canadore College’s Health, Human Care and Wellness programs are participating.

Start date:

In March, The Village Collective Impact Project hosted its first Intergenerational Community Summit on Decreasing the Risk of Social Isolation for Older Adults. Participants reviewed the current state of senior isolation in the Nipissing-Parry Sound region, hosted a panel discussion on the challenges and identified a common agenda to move forward.  The project has distributed $150,000 in grants to a dozen seniors’ organizations to get programming up and running across the region to address the issue of social isolation.

Goal:

Organizations were invited to apply for funding. Recipients were chosen based on criteria that supported the Project’s goal of enhancing the experience of seniors in the community. The projects include:

Progress:

The Village Collective Impact Project will launch another round of grant and partnership opportunities in the fall of 2022, with an additional $85,000 in grants available.

Measurable outcomes:

The collaborating organizations and seed grant partners are helping to move our community towards the collective vision of having every senior in our region socially connected and engaged.

For more information:

Cindy Males, Public Relations and Communications Specialist, Office of the President, 705-474-7600 x5911, Mobile: 705-475-2538 Cindy.Males@canadorecollege.ca