Hinton FCSS $96,000 Grant Approval for Community Support Worker 

In June 2022, the Government of Alberta announced $3.2 million in funding to Healthy Aging Alberta to enable community-based organizations across the province to offer older adults personal, psychosocial, and mental health support.

In 2020, seniors represented 14 percent of Alberta’s population, and this share is expected to be one in five Albertans by 2046. Over 90 percent of the 700,000 senior Albertans live in private households.

Depression and social isolation are critical mental health issues Alberta’s senior population faces. Mental health and addictions research recommends shifting towards a system of care that promotes cross-system collaboration to achieve better outcomes for individuals and families. A “recovery-oriented system of care” (ROSC) calls for a coordinated network of formal and informal services to sustain long-term recovery across diverse population groups.

The Government of Alberta announced $3.2 million in funding to Healthy Aging Alberta to enable community-based organizations across the province the opportunity to offer older adults personal, psychosocial, and mental health support.

This multi-year investment will enable the development and implementation of a phased project, including the delivery of coordinated, wrap-around, home, and community-based support programs in regions across the province. The project will see local community organizations deliver a range of flexible and essential personal support to older adults in their communities to promote psychosocial and mental well-being.

Criteria for selecting regions in the province to support programming and the fund allocation process have been collaboratively developed by Healthy Aging Alberta and representatives from the Ministry of Seniors and Housing. Program selection criteria will include considerations such as:

• a demonstrated regional need for mental health and addiction support;
• the density of seniors;
• percentage of seniors living in poverty or from equity-deserving communities;
• a demonstrated gap in services; and
• demonstrated capacity within the CBSS regional sector to expand, evolve, or establish home and community support programming. 

Hinton FCSS submitted a Provincial Home Supports funding application through Healthy Aging Alberta with a project concept to deliver a range of flexible and essential personal supports to older adults 55+ in Hinton and the surrounding area in order to promote psychosocial and mental well-being. The application was recently approved in the amount of $96,000, and FCSS is excited to offer a temporary Support Worker position that will be offering home support and respite care from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

“We are really excited here at the office to add another vital staff member to our FCSS team. Even if it is only temporary, it allows us to support older adults in our community who need just an extra hand as well as caregivers who are looking for a bit of relief from their day-to-day caregiving role”. 

-Caryn Bouchard, FCSS Manager. 

If you have any questions or comments regarding this information, please contact Caryn Bouchard, FCSS Manager, at cbouchard@hinton.ca or 780-865-6031.