Prince George, B.C.- The Senior’s Advocate   in B.C., is looking for volunteers to help gather information  from seniors in care.Volunteers are asking residents a range of questions from the quality of food, to how they view care staff, with the goal of gauging resident satisfaction and providing a roadmap for improvements to quality of care.

There are 27 thousand seniors living in 300 residential care facilities across the province.  This is the first time in B.C.  that volunteers will sit face to face  and collect information from those  living in  residential care and Senior’s Advocate, Isobel Mackenzie says the  initial feedback from  volunteers and those who have already  been surveyed is positive.

Kitty Yan is  one of the 250 volunteers who have already embarked on the survey journey ““The stories I’m hearing from seniors so far are so interesting,” said volunteer Kitty Yan. “The ability to engage in conversations with residents is like meeting with old friends. The process has been very rewarding.”

Feedback from seniors has been diverse, however a common emerging theme is the impact of having their voices heard. “A resident came to me and explained to me how a person had come to her and asked her questions for a long time,” said Norma Sorensen, Manager at Mt. Tolmie Care Home. “The resident recounted how they just sat together and the person listened to her and she was just thrilled. As a manager I felt sad that being listened to was such a novelty for the resident.”

To volunteer for the Office of the Seniors Advocate’s residential care survey, you can click here,  or call the Office of the Seniors Advocate office at 1.877.952.3181.