GWSA COVID-19 Pandemic Response Update - June 1

Welcome to the GWSA Email Updates


As we approach challenges we have never experienced, it takes courage to make the decisions that are best for ourselves.  Courage is empowering. The choices are ours. The weather is refreshing and restorative, and it’s time to venture out for some fresh air and sunshine or an energizing walk.  And, we know how to do it safely.  

Here’s your latest GWSA newsletter. We hope you will find some of it interesting and informative.  You can forward this email to a friend here or you can invite others to join our mailing list on our website. 
 

GWSA - The Sentinel
While the print edition isn’t available for now, it’s important to stay in touch. Our dedicated volunteers have prepared The Sentinel for your online enjoyment. Here is the June edition.  


GWSA -  The Evergreen Centre
The City of Guelph’s recreation centres, libraries, museums and theatres remain closed to the public to slow the spread of COVID-19. All scheduled programs, performances and events at city facilities are cancelled until Sept. 8, 2020. The GWSA continues to operate remotely, with many activity groups finding new ways to connect, and GWSA memberships are automatically extended. Once facilities reopen, your membership expiry date will be adjusted to reflect the new expiry date. You will not be charged for the time you haven't been able to fully use your membership.


GWSA - Annual General Meeting
We plan to hold the Annual General Meeting virtually through Zoom on September 15 at 1:30 pm and will share more details later. Guelph Wellington Seniors Association is one of Canada’s largest seniors’ organizations, serving over 2800 members in Guelph and Wellington. Stay safe for now - we look forward to seeing you again!    


GWSA - Quilting

GWSA’s quilters recently held their first Zoom meeting to reconnect with each other and find out how everyone else was doing. They quickly learned that, like many who sew, most had been busy making cloth masks for friends, family and for donations to the hospital, the university, and care facilities around Guelph. They compared notes about the different mask styles they had tried. They discussed the benefits of elastic ear loops as compared to fabric ties.
 
Look for a variety of masks in the Treasure Chest Gift Shop when the Evergreen Seniors Centre reopens. Our quilters plan to have a variety of colorful, low-cost masks available for you to purchase.


GWSA - Virtual Meetings

A few of the activity groups at the Association have taken the plunge and are running virtual meetings.
 
The GWSA Silvertones have embraced this technology with some of their members. The Silver Strummers, Lullaby Grannies, and the Silvertones Executive Committee have held virtual meetings very successfully and are moving forward. The Silvertones Executive has been connecting with the full choir by phone about once per month.
 
While acknowledging that virtual meetings suffice to keep the group connected, they are looking forward to the day when they can meet up again. The Silvertones are planning a full virtual Silvertones get-together with the whole gang in the days ahead. 
 
The Into Focus Photography Club has also enjoyed some success with meeting virtually. First of all, the Program & Education Committee met by teleconference and was quite impressed with the features that virtual meetings offered. The full club has since met once with plans for at least two additional meetings in the days ahead using this mode of connecting and sharing photos with each other.
 

GWSA - June fundraising challenge

Charities across Canada are facing fundraising shortfalls and a number of operational challenges due to COVID-19. To help charities like GWSA survive and continue to offer valuable services, Canada Helps has launched the annual Great Canadian Giving Challenge and doubled the grand prize to $20,000. This is a national public contest to benefit any registered Canadian charity. Every $1 donated in June automatically enters the charity to win the prize, with the draw on July first.  If you would like to support the GWSA campaign you can donate here.       
 

This year’s theme is stay safe, stay in touch. It is a time when we recognize the contributions that older adults have made in communities across our province. Given current circumstances, we are focusing on engaging and bringing together seniors virtually, rather than in person. This June, we encourage communities across Ontario to demonstrate safe and innovative ways to celebrate the positive impact that older adults have on our lives.
Ontario offers many ways to recognize seniors. You can nominate a senior in your community for an award, help celebrate milestones like special birthdays and anniversaries, and explore programs available at seniors’ centres across the province.
Celebrate a Milestone
Nominate someone for the Ontario Senior Achievement Award
More about Ontario Seniors' Month

You can do something every day, even from home, to help our planet. This year, the United Nations theme for World Environment Day is "biodiversity". This fits perfectly as Canada’s biodiversity is one of our country’s greatest riches. You can help protect our mountains, lakes and rivers, as well as our coasts, forests, and wildlife.  
 
The following sites are rich with useful resources and are definitely worth a look.
Canadian Environment Week
Clean Air Day—June 3
UN World Environment Day—June 5

You can learn about inspiring Indigenous peoples who have helped shape Canadian history. Celebrate the heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
Learn more here

'Physical literacy' means our capacity for a healthy, active lifestyle—how we learn to get more active and stay that way as we age. Active Aging Canada is planning a project called PLAY65+ with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Aging. You can take a survey below to help them ensure new resources meet the needs of older adults and those who work with them.  
Survey for older adults
Survey for those who work with older adults
Active Aging Canada—website

We can now be outside. This is simple. Gather in groups of five or less. Stay six feet apart. Wear a mask for added protection when maintaining that distance may not be possible like when you are moving into an aisle in the grocery store sight unseen and someone is standing right there. They may be asymptomatic and very able to spread COVID-19 to you.  
 
Don't touch your masked face. When you get home, wash your hands before taking the mask off. Take the mask off by using your pinky fingers, grabbing the loops of the mask behind your ears. Let the mask fall forward into a wash machine or sink full of hot soapy water. Wash your hands again. This is an example of the pandemic etiquette that is necessary.
 
Premier Ford expanded the testing guidelines to include everyone, asymptomatic or not. He is following a constantly shifting target. We cannot expand testing if people do not make their way to testing centres. We cannot control this virus if people gather in large groups.
 
Let's keep up the fight. Fear is devastating. Courage gives confidence and much needed endurance and energy. Courage is not magical. It is there for the taking.  It is in all of us. We are wired for hardship. We have built-in resilience. It is in our DNA. We have lived for decades as a society with relatively little hardship. It may be hard to find our strength to stand but we will find it.
 
COVID-19 will do what other viruses have done. It will fade into the background because human kind is too brilliant to let this enemy take us down. Remember the doubling time of the virus?  Now it is doubling every 60.9 days! At the beginning of the pandemic in Canada it was doubling every 2.75 days.
 
That is a community working collectively to crush a pandemic. Nothing negative here only reasons to celebrate. Keep moving forward. Get outside to exercise and remind your weary hearts of why they should be so encouraged.
 
Condensed from Anne-Marie Zajdlik—Facebook
 

Ontario Government:
-encouraging people to get tested for COVID-19
-continuing to suspend electricity time-of-use pricing until October 31, 2020 but at a new COVID-19 Recovery Rate of 12.8 cents per kWh
-permitting dentists, optometrists, massage therapists, chiropractors, physiotherapists, psychologists, dieticians, denturists and some others to gradually reopen   
-permitting some backcountry camping
-allowing drive-in theatres and batting cages to open
Ontario government—more details and news releases
 
The City of Guelph:
-making some sidewalks one way to encourage people to get outside safely:
City of Guelph—newsroom
City of Guelph—Response to the Coronavirus
 
GRCA:
-five more conservation areas have opened, including Elora Gorge, but not the Quarry.
Get all the details here.
 
Other Useful Information: 
County of Wellington—Response to the Coronavirus
WDG Public Health—COVID-19
Ontario—COVID-19 Information and Self-Assessment
Canada Public Health—Coronavirus Awareness Resources
Canada Public Health- Coronavirus
 

This is a new centralized data analytics and visualization hub established by expert volunteers to fill a gap. You can drill down to get the latest details for the province or for your area.
How's My Flattening—Home
How's My Flattening—Dashboard
 

In recent newsletters we have shared many shopping tips. This link connects to more seniors discounts you might want to explore. 

Canadian Seniors Discounts—ultimate List

Although this site is occasionally updated, there may be instances where retailers are expanding their offerings during COVID-19. For instance, Shoppers Drug Mart is currently providing its seniors discount the first hour of every day. We recommend checking with individual stores to confirm what is available.

Try this free shopping and delivery service for seniors needing help with groceries. 

• Available to seniors who live in Guelph, with a valid credit card
• Shopping and deliveries are Monday & Tuesday evenings
• Email info@unitedwayguelph.com to confirm a night
• Then, email shopping list by noon the day prior to delivery day
• Shopping is done at Zehrs on Eramosa.  Volunteers will try to fulfill the items on your list; let us know if you’d like to eliminate or substitute if they can’t
• Pay remotely on delivery night using your credit card
• Thanks to generous volunteers, there is no charge for delivery! 
• After shopping volunteers will immediately deliver the items to your home

The first week of June is Canadian Environment Week. You might be busy with videoconferencing, but you can also take a break by going outside to “walk, run, or wheel”.  We’ll offer some ideas below.

You might also check out GWSA’s growing page Activities for Mind and Body. 

Please keep in mind that these include free content, but connect to external sites not associated with the GWSA, each with its own terms, conditions and promotions.

Canadian Fitness Activity Guideline—older adults
Activity Guide for 65+
 
Exercise—walking
Walking—balance and agility (2 min tutorial)  
Walking—Nordic poles (2 min tutorial)
Walking—progressions (2 min tutorial)
Walking—techniques for improving (2 min tutorial) 
Walking—1 mile walk at home (15 min)
Walking—fast walk at home (30 min)
Walking—virtual walks worldwide 

Videoconferencing
Zoom—looking your best 
Zoom—10 tips and tricks you may not know

"Keep distance...Stay together"