The Rural Voice, 1981-06, Page 200)
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PG. 18 THE RURAL VOICE/JUNE 1981
Rural seniors studied
A study published last August about
rural seniors has been the basis for
further research, discussion and thought
about this segment of society.
The study was done by five Guelph
professors at the request of the Rural
Development Outreach Project. It utilized
an earlier RDOP survey about the elderly
in Huron County. The report represents
"a sound starting point for developing a
better understanding of the general
needs and future prospects of seniors in
rural Ontario."
Previously, there was very little in-
formation about rural seniors. The lack of
information in this area "hampers the
efforts of public officials attempting to
make useful and responsible decisions
affecting rural seniors", the report noted.
The previous definition of "rural",
according to the typical census, was a
place with a population of less than 1.000
residents. According to the researchers.
this definition does not take into account
the character of rural life. The report
"conceptualizes the nature of rurality in
far broader terms than does the typical
census definition."
The researchers found most of these
small towns have seniors (over 65)
comprising 25 per cent of the population.
This proportion of elderly is what is
expected throughout Canada by the year
2030.
The researchers felt further research
on the needs and strengths of the rural
elderly will provide "a unique opportun-
ity to 'foresee' some of the effects on
community life and community needs
when (in the years to come) one in every
five citizens is over age 65."
The researchers found rural elderly in
Ontario "are by no means overwhelming-
ly deprived", but have as high or higher
reported levels of life satisfaction than
their urban counterparts. The report
states rural seniors have less fear of
crime and less annoyance with noise
problems. Only half of the interviewed
seniors felt there should be more effort
put into helping people like themselves.
The researchers had expected this re-
sponse since these people have been so
independent for most of their lives.
The rural seniors major complaints
were of inadequate shopping and public
transportation facilities. More than half
thought the government does not care
about rural seniors and that they, as a
group, do not have any input into
government actions.
Researchers found rural seniors more
active than urban seniors. They are better
able to organize services and activities for
themselves in order to overcome local
difficulties.
Women attend conference
Huron delegates at a London con-
ference on learning opportunities for
rural Ontario women were impressed by
the practicality of the conference and the
availability of resources.
The conference was held on the second
weekend in May and was attended by 135
women from many parts of rural Ontario.
Helene Cameron of Exeter said, "I was
dumb founded by the amount of
information available. The conference
was extremely practical and the
enthusiasm shown by the women was
amazing."
The women discussed both specific and
general concerns of common interest.
Much attention was focused on the need
for more education available to rural
women. Valerie Bolton of Belgrave said it
is "exciting to know that there is a
changing attitude towards adult
education."
Dianne Harkin of Winchester was one
of the main speakers at the conference.
She represented the "Women for the
Survival of Agriculture" organization. It
was for this reason that Kay Elder, of
R.R. 2, Hensall went to the conference.
She wanted to learn more about this
group and she was also looking for ideas
which she might use in her position as
Queen of the Ontario Swine Farmers.
Valerie Bolton was also enthusiastic
about the conference. She went as an
organizer of Huron County Women
Today. She and Cameron, a co-organizer,
were interested in ideas for a direction for
this group. She found that you "don't
have to re -invent the wheel but you can
work within the network." The con-
ference was very helpful to them because
they adopted ideas from other womens'
groups, she added.