{"id":5475,"date":"2026-04-15T00:21:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T00:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/5475\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T00:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T00:21:19","slug":"how-calgary-navigator-services-connect-seniors-to-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/5475\/","title":{"rendered":"How Calgary navigator services connect seniors to resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Affordability and access to health care are two of the most persistent issues faced by older adults in Canada<\/a>, according to the most recent National Institute on Ageing report. <\/p>\n

And while a range of resources is available to address these issues, some seniors do not know how or where to find them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Silvera for Seniors is a Calgary-based organization that has provided affordable housing to low- and middle-income seniors for more than 60 years.<\/p>\n

For years, the non-profit supported its residents with social workers who addressed needs related to health, finances, transportation, and home care. <\/p>\n

But after a major\u00a0expansion\u00a0in 2025 that brought in 500 new independent residents across eight buildings, Silvera realized its social workers were too limited to support its seniors.<\/p>\n

In independent living, social workers cannot regularly monitor residents, meaning their need for support can go unnoticed.<\/p>\n

To address this gap, Silvera introduced a \u201cresident resource navigator\u201d role in July 2025. <\/p>\n

The position is designed to connect residents with social workers and help them access services while maintaining their independence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Faduma Warsame, a resident resource navigator at Silvera, describes herself as a \u201cguidebook\u201d for seniors. PHOTO SUPPLIED: SILVERA FOR SENIORS<\/p>\n

Navigating barriers for seniors<\/p>\n

Faduma Warsame is a navigator. <\/p>\n

She describes her role as a bridge, helping residents connect with resources they didn\u2019t even know existed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An important part of Warsame\u2019s job is helping older adults overcome and navigate barriers in awareness, accessibility or knowledge \u2013 especially technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty difficult, especially for seniors, to go out and look for these places. And it involves technology, which some of them aren\u2019t savvy on that,\u201d said Warsame. \u201cYou can\u2019t apply physically anymore in the locations and that sort of normalcy stops a lot of seniors being able to access the programs that they are allowed to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Navigators help older adults access financial resources, create budgets, file their taxes, find transportation around the city, and join community clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a resident that comes from their doctor and they say they need, say, a walker, but they don\u2019t know how to go about it, I\u2019m the person that will connect them to the places they need to go to,\u201d said Warsame.<\/p>\n

She describes herself as a \u201cguidebook\u201d for seniors at Silver, but most seniors in Calgary do not have guidebooks.<\/p>\n

Challenges beyond awareness<\/p>\n

According to the NIA\u2019s 2025 survey,<\/a> 39 per cent of older adults in Canada have just enough income to save, while 22 per cent report having inadequate income.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than six in ten older adults report having access to a primary caregiver but have consistent challenges booking appointments and getting timely care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These problems affect every aspect of their daily life. Inadequate income or poor health were often reported in NIA\u2019s survey as barriers to social engagement and building social networks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finding help in a complex system<\/p>\n

Calgary has a lot to offer to tackle these issues. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s \u00a0Age-Friendly Calgary, the City of Calgary\u2019s senior strategy to help seniors live well and age in place.<\/p>\n

There are non-profit groups like Calgary Meals on Wheels that offer senior-specific programs addressing food insecurity, and community organizations such as the Calgary Association of Lifelong Learners that offer opportunities for education and social connection.<\/p>\n

But finding these organizations<\/a> and navigating these programs can be a struggle for older adults and a burden for their families or caregivers.<\/p>\n

CALL\u2019s president, Judy Hoad, says the organization has difficulty attracting new members because people don\u2019t know about them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority was word of mouth,\u201d she said. \u201cVery few did a search on a website to find the website,\u201d said Hoad. <\/p>\n

At Silvera, Warsame says residents often don\u2019t know what they can ask for help with. <\/p>\n

She lets them know that help is always available.<\/p>\n

Sandi Montford, senior manager of supportive living and campus operations at Silvera, says residents often miss out on the care they need due to a lack of knowledge about programs or hard-to-navigate systems.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sandi Montford from Silvera for Seniors speaks with residents. PHOTO SUPPLIED: SILVERA FOR SENIORS. Credit: Paul Fesko<\/p>\n

Montford thinks the company\u2019s navigator roles make sense as the next step to ensure that all the hard work that goes into creating and managing services for older adults is fully utilized as intended.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s the first time that you have to navigate a system to find support, it\u2019s really difficult and people will give up easily and then not get the supports that they really need to be able to thrive,\u201d Montford said.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

Report an Error or Typo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Affordability and access to health care are two of the most persistent issues faced by older adults in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3227,164,51,17,2278,3228,3229,167],"class_list":{"0":"post-5475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-ageing","9":"tag-alberta","10":"tag-calgary","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-mount-royal-university","13":"tag-non-profit","14":"tag-seniors","15":"tag-yyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}