Retirees Could Be Key in Helping B.C.’s Chronically Ill Seniors: UBCO Study

A three-year study has shown that retired baby boomers might just be the answer to helping seniors with chronic illness live independently.

The study was done by researchers at UBC’s Okanagan campus, and it found that chronically ill seniors led healthier lives when they had a trained professional to navigate their health care. “Older adults living in rural areas with advanced chronic illness often live with challenging symptoms and limited healthcare services,” says Barbara Pesut, associate professor of nursing at UBC Okanagan. “They have difficulty knowing the services that are available to them and also accessing those services. This results in poor quality of life.”

UBC Okanagan Canada Research Chair Barb Pesut and Health Navigator Brenda Hooper look over a workbook created to help train volunteer health navigators to work with chronically ill seniors living in rural communities. (Photo Credit: Contributed)

In rural communities, this support is particularly important because services are often limited or several hours away. Each visit can be exhausting, both mentally and physically, for the patient and caregiver.

Brenda Hooper spent the last three years in Castlegar and Trail, working as a nurse navigator for the research. Twice a month, she visited a chronically ill senior to answer questions about their medical care and resources in the community. She would also offer advice to families and caregivers.

“Evaluation of the project shows that the use of a nurse navigator has a clear and direct impact on older adults and their families by providing much needed support, education, advocacy, symptom management, and help making complex decisions,” says Pesut. “However, there is also an important potential role to be played by volunteers, trained in navigation, to support these older adults.”

Pesut, Hooper, and University of Alberta researcher Wendy Duggleby will soon start a one-year study on the feasibility of using navigation volunteers to support older adults and their families. Hooper will work with the volunteers in Trail, Castlegar, and Nelson to give navigation services to older adults who are living at home with advanced chronic illness.

"Assisting the frail rural elderly to age in place is essential to quality of life at end of life,” says Pesut. “An innovative way to assist older adults to age in place is to provide navigation services where a knowledgeable individual advocates, facilitates community connections, coordinates access to services and resources, and promotes active engagement of frail older adults with their community.”

She pointed to baby boomers as a potential source for volunteers. “With the retirement of the baby boomers there is this skilled group of people who want to continue to make a contribution to society,” says Pesut. “They have the potential to bring important capacity to the vital role of volunteers.”

After the one-year pilot project, researchers will have curriculum and protocol to educate future rural volunteer healthcare navigators, as well as a better understanding of this role’s potential benefits.

If you’re interested in being a volunteer navigator or if you know an older adult who could benefit from navigator servicers, contact Hooper at brenda.hooper@ubc.ca