We need a better culture of asking for help

Photo: Gavin Young, PostMedia Network

“Who has a harder fight than he who is striving to overcome himself?” asked Thomas a Kempis, a copyist and writer who lived a monastic life in the 1400s.

Overcoming ourselves. What does that mean, exactly? In some lives, it may mean overcoming a toxic upbringing with parents who, for whatever reasons, were never able to meet your needs. In spite of that you decided that somewhere deep inside you was the stuff you needed to rise above the madness and confusion of that early start. You did it!

I came into this world as a person with disability and I will leave it the same way. Persons with challenges to daily living strive every waking moment to overcome that ‘thing’ which makes life exhausting. Parents of children with challenges go through every day wondering if they’re doing enough, striving to overcome their own fears about whether they’re doing it right. They and we are striving to overcome ourselves. We can create a better version of ourselves with hard work and a stick-to-itivness while being open to allowing others into our world. Everybody needs a little help sometimes. My age and changing abilities make asking for help essential to continued independent living.

Our province has many opportunities within the ranks of the 50-80 year old set to accomplish great things. Think about the vast resources of knowledge that could be tapped to benefit youngsters just starting out, particularly those about to enter the world of academia with their first day of school. It’s time for developing more inter-generational programs and services and ensuring they are sustained.

At the same time as our aging population is, well, aging, they could be enlisted to share their stores of experience, particularly with regard to their worklife and what attributes they see as critical to success. For me, reading and writing come to mind. While our aging population involves itself in providing service through volunteering their time and energies to youngsters and the community at large, the powers that be have a duty to support them in their healthy and safe aging. Aging in place, though the ideal, poses inherent challenges and is becoming more of a struggle for those who have had to let go of doing even the most routine of daily tasks. Things pile up, even important home maintenance requirements fall by the wayside. All some among us need is a hand up; it’s not always about a hand-out of the monetary kind, though that does help. 

Make no mistake about that — a hand out, an extended hand to help a neighbour who needs it is not just a nice thing to do, it’s a necessary thing to do. Necessary, given that in our own daily lives, we have family and friends who are aging in place but we can’t always meet their needs because we live in another province, perhaps, in another country. We help when and where we can and hope our old neighbours are picking up the slack, doing for our families what we cannot do. We’re doing it for someone else in that new place we call home.

The unfortunate nature of the beast is that the cost of living is so wrapped up in dollars and cents. What about the physical and emotional costs of living? Seniors still living in their own home are often overlooked when it comes to goods and services and taking a look at what they need to stay healthy, well and safe. Often, they’re overlooked because so many seniors don’t ‘sign up’ for services, fully convinced they can do it all on their own. Until the great fall!

In the broader sense, it costs far less for the overseers of programs subsidized by government funding to  be proactive in advance of full-time need of service. In expanding in-home services that are affordable, seniors would be better equipped to overcome themselves and their age-related deficiencies without feeling that they’re useless and totally helpless; self-defeating talk only makes the situations worse. As a consequence, the likelihood of extended period of independent living is made possible and care plans that include leaving the home and hearth of decades can be put on the back burner. 

Long nursing home wait lists and hospitals congested with waiting patients have been plaguing systems of care for years. What if the very space that will work is right under the roof of the person in need of extended care? Imagine that! Government entities responsible for overseeing budgets and placements can overcome themselves by more clearly seeing what’s right in front of them. and those seeking assistance can contribute to ovecoming their own worst impulses by asking for help. You don’t get if you don’t ask.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Childhood poverty significantly limits potentials and opportunities

Childhood poverty compromises every aspect of the lives of those so affected, as they try to make their way in the world that is very often unforgiving of those who don’t fit the pre-cast mold set up by the ever-elusive ‘they’.  In essence, there’s a failure to thrive.

The label ‘failure to thrive’ was assigned to me when I was an infant. In my late 20s, I learned that it was still applied, as part of my ‘medical condition’; being undeweight, often a function of cerebral palsy and galloping metabolism that sucks up calories faster than I can take them in. 

As to children in poverty, failure to thrive is often impacted by spotty nutrition, with children and families relying on food banks and the like to top up requirements each month when funds get low. Failure to thrive is evidenced in school performance; a hungry child cannot concentrate. A child worried about being laughed at because he’s wearing jeans that are dirty and too short cannot effectively learn. He’s a victim of circumstances out of his control. 

Lessons in empathy need to be part of the daily curriculum so that those children who don’t experience such struggles are made aware of the needs of schoolmates who work and play around them. Across the ages, civility is waning and we need to pull it out of the gutter, dust it off and build lessons around it. Where better than in the classroom, at the beginning of the journey of formal education?

A dilemma for those who want to help is how do we help and who do we help? We tend to  take a broad brush to the issue of poverty, putting Group A over here and Group B over there.  We decide, without benefit of facts or family history, who is deserving of our largesse and who may be less so. Hmm. Here’s the thing — people are people. We all cry. We all laugh. We all live. We all die.

Children living in poverty are at risk on so many levels aside from what the mainstream sees as the obvious - food insecurity, inadequate housing and lapses in effective parenting from adults in their world. Lapses in parenting may well contribute to school absenteeism.

Being forced to live on the fringes during their formative years, during their school years, from K to 12, impacts a child in ways that may leave lifelong scars. That’s the reality of their world but there are so many among us who can help change outcomes by getting involved in our community with attention given to those who need us most. Call your local elementary school and offer to be a reading buddy. Your contribution will help boost literacy scores. Boosting literacy helps take a bite out of poverty. Think about that.

In today’s world, yesterday’s curriculum isn’t doing the job; we need to provide students with a more ‘in the world’ hands-on approach to learning. Certainly, sitting down and listening to instructors impart their knowledge about particular subjects needs to be part of the process but it could be expanded to incorporate exposure to  material beyond the pages of a book, or the information on a chalk board. Is it boredom that’s keeping children out of school? Layered learning might be the solution. Learning that’s designed with input from the students. Learning that is more inclusive of the broader community; inviting them in to teach. To learn themselves.

Young people living in poverty who are of working age, often miss school so they may earn money via part-time jobs to top up the family pot of funds required to just get by. Many families come to depend on their teenagers’ part time jobs to put extra food in the cupboards and cover costs of school supplies or special ‘school recommended’ sneakers or jackets.  Some families simply cannot afford any extras. Most may not even have a savings account that has sufficient funds to cover an unexpected emergency. That’s the reality of poverty for so many.

Making the school curriculum more relevant from the outset, beginning in 1st grade, may well be the best way to ensure a continuity of attendance. Engaging students in activities physically, intellectually and emotionally will ensure the creation of long-term memories with a skill set that will ensure that they are able to get off the poverty wheel going nowhere and establish themselves in careers they love with jobs that will be fulfilling with opportunities for advancement.

Childhood poverty is real. It is a problem. It can be made less so with greater and sustained involvement of those in the community who have the time and resources to make a difference. Could you be such a person?

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Reading, writing and manners, oh my!

Photo: Tyler Anderson/Postmedia News

       Manners are of more importance than laws. Upon them, in great measure, the laws depend. Manners are what vex or smooth, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us . . . . According to their quality, they aid morals, or they destroy them. [Edmund Burke, British Statesman]

I agree with Sue Rickards’ recent comments that “schools must teach life, work and academic skills by encouraging teachers and students to take more responsibility for their own education.”

The cookie-cutter model doesn’t work; it never did and it never will. Though I’ve never taught in the formal 4 walls box with the sit down and listen to me theme, I have taught ‘out in the world’ via hands on learning, primarily with intellectually challenged children and young adults. Today, my teaching involves online text based guidance of parents of children with challenges to daily living. I also mentor young adults with disability, mostly young women with cerebral palsy. 

  Ms. Rickards’ leading comment “must teach life …” is the hook. The key. Teaching about life is going to be the way to reach students so that they will be inspired to learn the readin’ and writin’ components of academia. Part of life teaching was lost when vocational training programs were dropped from the curriculum — we need to bring them back. They’re critical to the sustainability of all that book learning that we hold as so important. Learning how to do basic home repairs. Critical! Learning how to make a grocery list, how to budget, how to shop for the best deals. Critical! They involve developing good communication skills, the ability to co-operate effectively. They also involve reading and writing. It’s all part of the same package — life and living IS learning.

In Japan, as example, children don’t take exams until fourth grade. The first 3 years of their schooling is focused on establishing good manners, which invariably contribute to good character. Those two building blocks must be solidly in place before any substantive book learning or lecture learning begins. 

Being reminded of the importance of manners and character building for children in kindergarten, I recalled the case of a teacher in the United States who failed her entire grade one class, being of the view that they lacked the maturity to sit down and listen; they were disruptive to the entire class and the teacher was spending more time correcting behaviour of a few than teaching the group. The majority of the youngsters did not have the basics of numbers and letters, begging the question - where were the parents/caregivers during that early learning phase? Teachers were left to teach manners and the value of caring and sharing as well as do sheet work, teach numbers and letters and basics of early reading. Children who struggled through without establishing a solid grounding in manners and good conduct are now adults who are still struggling; frustrated by the demands of high school, struggling in the work place, struggling in relationships with spouses or signficant others.

We don’t get a do-over and those people who are still floundering with unfulfilled lives still have an opportunity to correct course; that is, if they have the fortitude/get up and go to do it. Re-evaluating what’s important in your day to day is one way of making the decision to change course. Replacing the lust for tech toys with a commitment to taking an night class is a start. Pleading not enough money or no money is, dare I say, an easy out. How many cups ofcoffee did you buy today? Multiply that by 5 days. By 7 days. How many times did you eat fast food this week? Calculate the cost of a single night course that appeals to your interests and aptitudes. You do the math. You make the choice — a choice that may well change your life and open opportunities that are currently lost to you.

Adults in the world of a child who instill in them the value of please and thank you, paying attention, being respectful of others are providing those children with tools that will allow them to make more solid choices as they mature into who they are trying to be and who they will ultimately be, as they take their place in the community. 

Children who are allowed, yes allowed, to run roughshod over the rules of fair play and be disrespectful to those who are charged with teaching them are a challenge to everyone in their world. Parents who may have unwittingly set the stage for the behaviour, throw up their hands and remove themselves from responsibility. Hmm. There has to be accountability. And people, let’s be very clear. It begins in the home.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Make your ‘just a minute’ count each and every day

“Lost time is never found again.” Benjamin Franklin’s words are just as relevant today as when he first said them.

How many years got away from us, with opportunities missed? Opportunities to do it better. Do our part. Pull our weight. Help and be helped.

Some may feel their contribution would pale in comparison to that of others but how would they know if they don’t get out there? Those who hang back, uninvolved, may well shine in the realm of community service, finding it brings to them something that was missing in their lives.

If you express your own feelings about caring and sharing, isolation and abandonment, others might decide to get involved and participate in being part of a change in your shared community, beginning within their own lives, with those near and dear and with those who are near  — the neighbour they really don’t know, the aftershool program that could use extra volunteers to help children with reading, the local hospital that is always seeking extra pairs of hands to do this or that, the community sponsored suppers that always need potato peelers and salad makers. The list of what you CAN do is endless. The list of what you SHOULD do rests with you and your conscience.

Along with aging citizens, we are province of  declining population growth rate. That being so, the need for people to serve, to assist those who are less able to meet their own daily needs, is at a critical mass. If you’re sitting home alone and are able to get out and about, DO it. Find out what’s going on  in your community and see where you might fit. Ultimately, what stops you is YOU!

For myself, giving comes in a form that is somewhat unique, due in large measure to the implications of my own life circumstances. I write. I write about what I know and I write about what I live and I may very well be a voice for many out there who are in a similar situation with regard to lack of access. Perhaps my written voice gives them the courage to finally speak up, to finally stand up and ask for help when needed.

Within the parameters of my online presence, I make myself available to assist young  parents with writing letters requesting devices and services necessary to improve the quality of life for their youngster with disability. I help parents through the maze of often confusing jargon aka gobbledy-gook when they get another denial letter from an agency they thought would help them. The ‘blue book’ needs to be rewritten to accommodate the real needs of real people. Yet again, to repeat an oft-used phrase - ‘one size does NOT fit all!’.

The gift of availability can be transmitted from one person to another, bringing a community to life, whether that community is online or in our daily touch it, feel it, hear it lives.

One couple I’ve ‘known’ online for several years demonstrates clearly the importance and the  need for more neighbourliness. As my online friend says, “we have been isolated by our very ‘composition' by virtue of accommodation.  We have always been blessed with at least a couple of friends or neighbors who accepted us, but we always had to make the most effort.”

Her husband of over 20 years, is a vent dependent quadriplegic. Injured in a high school football game in his teens, he’s been a quad for over 40 years! Imagine it! Forty plus years of not being able to do almost all the things that we so easily take for granted. Over the course of their marriage, they were Mom and Dad to several chosen children who, sadly, have passed away; all had challenges to daily living. Quite frankly the fact that this couple has to ask for help is beyond sad and unfortunate. It’s just wrong! 

All around us are folks who used to ask for help but felt they were imposing and stopped asking, plodding along — sometimes to their detriment. 

Plodded along until the day when the old man who lives across the street from you fell off a ladder while changing the battery in his smoke alarm. One of those ‘shoulda’ moments you missed. “I shoulda gone over to ask Mr. Jones if he needed help,” you said to yourself. Now he’s in the hospital with a broken hip and has developed an infection. How long does it take to change a smoke alarm battery?

Living with disability is not pretty and growing old is not fun. Asking for help is a tough pill but we have to swallow our pride and just DO it if we are to be safe. Will you DO your part in your community, on your street, to ensure that a neighbour in need stays safe? Perhaps that will be your next ‘just a minute’.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Teaching our children well goes beyond classroom curriculum

       

       

According to German author, Jean Paul, “the conscience of children is formed by the influences that surround them; their notions of good and evil are the result of the moral atmosphere they breathe.”

Take a moment and re-read those words and think about what they mean. Think about what they meant when you were growing up, when you were raising children, when you’re influencing grandchildren.

Now, think about all those children who grew up and are growing up without many or no positive influences to guide them and help set their ‘moral compass’ and build an emotional quotient. Today’s latchkey children are in trouble, people. They are barely getting by because there is not enough consistency with active adults in their world doing what needs to be done. Children were not meant to parent themselves.

Then, think about 12 such children with no on track moral compass in a classroom joined by10 others who have been schooled, coached, encouraged, included, praised and gently pushed into being productive, contributing little citizens in their communities. Each of them, in a second grade class, sitting at a desk, with the adult standing at the front of the room. She calls out the class list. All present and accounted for; the lesson begins. It was to be a math lesson with a counting game and flash cards and M&Ms. The teacher referenced Tiny Tim and Christmas and being poor and how much things cost in the days of A Christmas Carol. Most 7-8 year olds know about Tiny Tim.

Three of the children who’ve not yet mastered the ‘sit down and sit still’ MO of classroom etiquette are up and wandering around at the back of the room; one of them is playing with a truck and the other 2 want a turn zoom, zoom, zooming it on the floor. Did they forget that class is in session? The teacher quietly makes her way to the three ‘lost little lambs’ and herds them back to their seats, picking up where she left off. Ten minutes have passed while she was talking about the story of Tiny Tim, with many hands raised anxious to ask their question. One of the three didn’t raise his hand. He just blurted out a question while standing up by his seat, pulling on his sweater and weaving back and forth. He was asked to ‘sit down, please’, but he was having none of it. Off he went to go through a box of games the teacher made available for children staying in at recess. Again, he was asked to take his seat. He started screaming. The entire class collapses into chaos. Has the teacher lost control? Hmm.

The teacher does something totally unexpected; she takes her chair and puts it into the corner and sits down, facing into the wall. All goes quiet. The children who were disrupting the lesson are back in their seats. Waiting. She continues to sit, not moving. Silence!

After what seems ages, the teacher turns around, facing the class, to let them know that the  children who would not sit down really hurt her feelings. She tries so hard to make their days fun and interesting and it’s hurtful when some of the children won’t sit down and paticipate. She realizes that some children learn by being busy and noisy and into everything, but part of the lesson requires that they sit still. She would rather have the days filled with different types of learning but she has rules to follow; a curriculum. She turned to face the corner again. She waited. More time for everyone to settle.

Across the province and across the country, teachers are faced with numerous challenges that fall outside the realm of curriculum delivery. The emotional health of certain children in their class may sometimes dictate course direction and/or correction.  Meeting their needs with a unique teaching method is a way to educate the entire class. There’s method in the madness.

The teacher’s plan to have a math lesson was shelved; instead she opted to have a discussion — a discussion about feelings. The unsettled children were asked to form a circle and the others joined. Each in their turn, starting with the ones who couldn’t sit still, was asked what they did that morning before coming to school. The mornings for a few of the children didn’t get off to a good start. Those who received positive regard from Mom and Dad offered some advice. The teacher sat quietly and listened to the unfolding lesson as children exchanged experiences and feelings and ways to make things better for tomorrow.

Teaching and learning isn’t always about sit down and sit still so when the situation warrants devoting the entire class time to sharing feelings, that’s the way to go. Ultimately, it will have more staying power than learning  the multiplication tables. There’s time for 9x8 another 

day.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Reaching out to seniors experiencing pet loss

Sketches of Miss Lady the Westie and Mr. Clancy the Cairn

created by Lynne Saintonge, Canadian Painter and Visual Artist

        Many of us have experienced pet loss at some point in our lives, whether it’s a turtle when we were 4, the family dog when we were 10, or first chosen pet cat when we still lived with  our parents. All those losses were lessons in humaneness and the importance of being kind.

When a senior loses a pet, it’s more than the passing of Fido or Fluffy who was loved and cared for every moment of life. It’s so much more, and caregivers and health care professionals need to be alert to the needs of a senior facing the prospect of a life without their faithful friend. Seniors and others considered ‘at risk’, living on their own with no daily companionship of fellow humans often seek comfort and connection with a pet; a dog or a cat. Caring for a pet develops a daily routine — a series of intimate rituals with another living being.

In 1992-1993, my husband and I coped with the deaths of 5 animals in an 8-month period; the first, was almost 7 year old Mr. Clancy, a Cairn terrier. In the middle of a snowstorm, we drove to our Fredericton veterinarian on Boxing Day of 1992 to get help for our little guy. My husband dropped me off at Luna Pizza where I raised a few glasses to the tenacious one; I couldn’t bring myself to attend at his crossing Rainbow Bridge. When we returned from the vet’s, a cat that had been missing for months and thought dead was sitting on the porch steps.  That cat tale another time.

In the summer of 1993, we first bade farewell to Miss Lady, a 20 year old Westhighland White Terrier. A senior Shih-Tzu, Miss Pepper, adopted a few weeks later was only with us for a short time. Unbeknownst to us at adoption was that she had throat cancer; her previous owner died of throat cancer not long after. 

Two of the original Charlotte Street cats left us as well; Mr. Basil (the black) walked back to Fredericton weeks after we moved to the country. The vet and we agreed to leave him in the care of his Charlotte Street friends. Mr. Hansel, a klutz of a cat, dropped dead in the kitchen after a massive heart attack. He was a dog’s best friend.

In 1994, we adopted two Cairn terrier brothers, Mr. Alex and Mr. Jake; the house was lively again when they joined 4 resident cats. Sadly Mr. Alex was not long-lived and after 4 years of his company, we then carried on with his brother and the felines. The behaviour of all demonstrated an acknowledgement of his passing. They knew.

Later, at the deaths of the two eldest cats, the former barn cat twin brothers from next door, stepped in to their new role as ‘senior cats of the house’. The circle of life continues. 

The last pet to pass away while my husband was still alive was one of the ‘senior fellows’; several months earlier, his littermate had been struck by a car and killed. We were not able to recover his body for burial. 

Fast forward to 2007, when we were three — my husband, me, and Mr. Jake, the 16 year old Cairn terrier. In September of that year, my husband passed away. In November, Mr. Jake succumbed to heart disease. In January of 2008, my father, a well-respected physician in Bath, passed away.

Those fortunate enough to have an open communication with their physician that allows them to talk about their pet during an office visit will feel less anxiety about conversations regarding their pet’s health as they age. Knowing what other layers make up the life of a senior patient allows care personnel to act accordingly; a senior stressed about a health crisis of an aging pet will benefit from guidance from their own doctors, who then have opportunity to network with local vet clinics and shelters to create  safety nets of service for a patient who needs help. ElderDog Canada, one such service, provides a valuable supports and is a phone call away.

The aging pet poses lots of challenges especially for seniors fixed incomes who often base decisions of care on finances. It’s important for older pet owners to open lines of communication with their veterinarian very early on with any new pet they adopt. Certainly, vet practices have financial obligations of their own but they’re not totally unfeeling when it comes to the needs of their patients and their people. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. It was through my own vet that I adopted Mr. Digby and Miss Lexie.

Conversations about feelings attached to impending pet loss or the passing of a beloved pet must not be minimized by those in our circle who are not pet people, for whom dogs and cats were never part of their daily lives. For so many of us, ‘pets are people, too.’

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Aging in place: Chez Rockwell is the space for me

Co-housing, aging in place; aging together. It’s a trend gaining in popularity in Canada, the US and around the world, having its origins in Denmark. To me, it makes a lot of sense but it’s not to be entered into lightly — rather like marriage. It takes committment and a lot of work each and every day.

In New Brunswick,  as was the case in many provinces across the country, most families were comprised of several generations living under one roof back in the day when farming communities were thriving and it was ‘all hands’ to work the land. At the time, gender played a role with regard to tasks. Today, men and women have a hand in all manner of shared tasks which works well when combined with communication and compromise.

Communication and compromise are the glues that keep a relationship intact and growing and going along in a healthy, constructive and productive way. That’s why co-housing makes sense, especially for lifelong friends who believe they’d do better with each other than on their own. Together, they have a better chance of not becoming nursing home statistics. Government take heed. Real estate developers and builders, listen up. We need to rethink where and how our seniors live. 

When we lose the supports of the traditional family dynamic, through death, or family members moving to other locations around the world, we begin to feel the stress that those changes impose upon our daily lives. Our physical and emotional health often takes a hit and we experience one or more health situations that may not exist were we not on our own. A viable solution is to share the new reality with others, whether a close friend, or someone interviewed through the process of finding a housemate or 2 or even 3. Sort of like the multi-generational family farm without the farm.

Co-housing also means sharing the bills and the responsibilities of the house, going beyond practical financial arrangements. It’s cheaper to live with somebody else while at the same time contributing to our physical and emotional wellness. Sharing and caring together enhances quality of life and puts off an often inevitable transition into nursing home/assisted living care.

New Brunswick needs co-housing, as people currently aging in place alone in sprawling homes that are becomg more difficult to maintain, would be far better served sharing with a long time friend in a similar situation. The financial health of the province’s systems of care would also improve as they would be less burdened with people who would be far happier in a space that’s easier to manage. Co-housing combines the best features of home ownership with the added layers of security, companionship, community spaces in buildings that are on the ‘campus’, within walking distance. Movie nights and pot luck suppers in the community lounge. Then, back to your own private home with your housemate. You own it. It’s yours. Having places to go and people to see is far better than any anti-anxiety medication or sleeping pill. The possibilities for a long term ‘people prescription’ are endless.

I believe that developers in this province and beyond would do well to embrace the idea of co-operative housing units, which include all the features that are critical to safety. Invaluable would be consulting  with persons with challenges to daily living who know, based on life experience, what would be needed in a home for older people who want to ‘age in place’. Ask me about kitchens.

The cost of purchasing a property in a senior cohousing community is comparable to buying a house in a traditional community; further, buying a home in a newer development, downsizing to a smaller property, can reduce maintenance and overhead costs such as utility bills. To further reduce expenses, some senior cohousing communities also encourage neighbors to share resources such as lawn maintenance equipment. What a great way to meet `n greet.

Fredericton, in particular, and New Brunswick, in general, is ideally suited to multi-generational co-housing, given that Fredericton is a ‘university town’, and New Brunswick has several university campuses and lots of students in need of housing. Friendships across generations is critical to emotional health and wellness — ask any senior who only gets to see grandchildren a few times a year, if that.  

Co-housing with age related peers and multi-generational cohousing contribute to improved physical health, reduces the number of seniors living in poverty, which impacts wellness. In my view, cohousing is necessary for survival, particularly for those ‘at risk’ populations who would benefit from a sustained people connection. To learn more, visit Canada Co-housing Network.

For myself, if I was fortunate enough to match with a compatible housemate, I’d certainly be amenable to opening the doors of Chez Rockwell to a roomie. Must love dogs! 

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca