by John Muscedered and John Puxty
QUOI Media

COVID-19 has framed older Canadians as frail and vulnerable during the pandemic – for good reason. The pandemic has hit older adults particularly hard, accounting for the majority of those suffering from serious illness and death.

Fear of COVID-19 contagion continues to impact seniors far more than most other Canadians, forcing them into stricter lockdown measures for their own health and safety.

What’s forgotten in the focus on keeping seniors safe is that older adults aren’t solely vulnerable and reliant but contribute greatly to our economy and to our society. Canada’s older adults should not only be seen as victims of COVID-19, but also as a resource to help society recover from it.

Canada’s older adults are living longer now than ever before. The oldest Baby Boomers are turning 75 this year and are more committed than any other generation in the past to aging well, aging in-place and keeping healthy and active as long as they can.
This is shown in the statistics of seniors who are still actively working.

The employment rate of seniors in the Canadian labour force has more than doubled since 2000. In 2015, one in five Canadians aged 65 and older, or nearly 1.1 million seniors, reported working during the year. In 2018, Stats Canada reported that 28.4 per cent of Canadians 60 and older who reported working as their major activity were self-employed.

More seniors now hold post-secondary degrees than in the past and this seems to keep them working longer. Older Canadians with at least a bachelor’s degree were almost two times more likely to continue working after the age of 65 than those with a high school diploma.

It’s important to note, however, that sometimes seniors are still in the workforce because they cannot afford to retire and not because they choose to continue to work.

Employment income was the main source of income for 43.8 per cent of seniors who worked in 2015. Those without private pensions — which have declined over the past 30 years – are 1.5 times more likely to continue working than those seniors with private pensions.

It’s not just through employment – and the taxes they continue to pay while they work – that seniors help grow the economy. Seniors are also committed to giving back and building their communities.

Older Canadians are committed volunteers. They provide a wealth of knowledge, experience and skills that can be of great benefit to their communities. Seniors are responsible for one in five volunteer hours given to non-profits and charities. Volunteer Canada values a volunteer hour at $27, which means seniors are providing upwards of $10.9 billion of unpaid work into our economy annually.

Seniors are not only generous with their time but also with their money. In 2017, Canadian seniors provided 42 per cent of all donations to charities, totaling over $4 billion. This is close to half of all charitable donations in Canada.

Almost one-quarter of Canadian seniors aged 65 years and older are also caregivers. In 2018, 1.5 million of the 7.8 million Canadian caregivers were aged 65 years and older.

During the pandemic, seniors have stepped up to support communities through food bank drives, delivering groceries, driving others to appointments, making sure neighbours aren’t isolated, and volunteering for charities to support Canada’s most vulnerable, regardless of their age. Also, some seniors, such as doctors and nurses, have come out retirement to help out.

All of this generosity and employment activity doesn’t just have benefits for our economy and society. By keeping active and engaged through paid or charitable work, research shows seniors receive benefits to their own health and well-being.

A one-sided view of older Canadians as frail and vulnerable does not describe the vast majority of Canada’s 6.8 million seniors. They have a lifetime of experience to contribute and many are simply not done yet.

Canada needs to tap into their energy and expertise as we face some of the greatest challenges in many generations due to COVID-19 and the resulting economic damage it has caused.

John Muscedere is CEO of the Canadian Frailty Network and a Professor in the School of Medicine at Queen’s University.

John Puxty is the Director of the Centre for Studies in Aging and Health at Providence Care and an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at Queen’s University.

by Linda Silas
QUOI Media

A COVID-free future is within our reach – a future where it’s safe to hug again and where our smiles no longer need to be hidden behind a mask. To get there, we will need a robust vaccination drive. We will need Canadians to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated. But we will also need to be patient. Immunizing the country won’t happen overnight. It will be an incremental process informed by science and one that seeks to immediately stem the loss of life.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions encouraged all health care workers, all essential workers and the general public to receive the vaccine when they become eligible. We also urged governments across Canada to speed up the rollout of the vaccine, especially to those most likely to experience severe illness, such as seniors, Indigenous people and racialized people – all of whom have been shown to be most at risk of infection.

Nurses have also signaled that they are ready and willing to step up and help the government with the vaccine rollout by joining health care teams at vaccination clinics across Canada. While the news of some delays in delivery of the Pfizer vaccine may give us pause, governments must strive to speed up the immunization and rapidly increase the number of clinics where the vaccine is available. This is how we will contain this virus and counter its spread.

What’s also been lacking in Canada’s vaccine delivery program is evidence-based information. Within this vacuum, misinformation, vaccine myths and mistrust have thrived. Sadly, many Canadians are hesitant to get vaccinated, particularly among marginalized communities who, we recognize, have all too often experienced negative interactions with the medical community.

As nurses, we believe that any risk posed by the vaccine is far outweighed by the benefits in being protected from COVID-19.
As with any other medical treatment, informed consent is required. It’s our job, as health professionals, to provide facts – and yes, empathy – when patients express concerns about being vaccinated. Everyone who gets the vaccine must understand the benefits of immunization, as well as any potential risks. All Canadians should be empowered to make an informed decision.

Some individuals have expressed concerns about the record turnaround time for these vaccines. Producing multiple vaccines in less than a year was the result of a momentous global effort, harnessing the ingenuity of a scientific community united in a common objective. Large-scale trials on the efficacy of vaccines involved tens of thousands of participants, including many from diverse backgrounds. The trials resulted in high rates of protection with few or no reported serious adverse events. Despite the compressed timelines, no shortcuts were taken: the same standards were applied to these vaccines as for any other vaccines that have been developed.

In Canada, we know the approval process by Health Canada is safe and effective; their assessment of scientific and clinical evidence is done independently and is known to be stringent. We also know that historically, immunization programs have saved countless lives worldwide. The COVID-19 vaccines approved thus far have the potential to provide much-needed protection against the continued spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus but this will only happen if sufficient numbers choose to be vaccinated.

As Canada’s nurses, we want to encourage all those living in Canada to receive the vaccine as soon as they are able. Together, we can contain this virus, end the pandemic and take part in Canada’s post-pandemic recovery.

Linda Silas is a nurse and President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, representing nearly 200,000 nurses and student nurses across the country.