Vancouver non-profit fosters community for Japanese-Canadian seniors living in isolation

On Friday, Masako Arima went for a walk with a 94-year-old member of her community.

Arima and other members of her team at Tonari Gumi, a local Japanese-Canadian community association, have been visiting the senior for almost two years.

He lives alone, since all of his other family members have passed away, and he’s often in need of groceries, a walk, or even just a good conversation.

“He wanted to go outside to buy something, so we took with him for a walk,” Arima said.

“It was only eight blocks and he had to break six times, but still, he cannot go by himself so we go together with him, and then he feels respect and trust, and he’s happy.”

When COVID-19 arrived in 2020, Arima says she began calling every single one of Tonari Gumi’s 300 members to check-in. That’s when she found out that about 75 to 80 of them had no family members left and were living alone, in isolation.

While the non-profit has been running its community support programs since before the pandemic, Arima says these calls helped her realize how many people in her community could benefit from at-home support.

According to a report by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the number of senior households in Canada is set to increase significantly in the coming years as more seniors choose to age at home. In May, B.C. announced it was investing more funds into programs like the United Way British Columbia’s Better at Home program, which helps support seniors aging at home. The province states more than 12,500 people use Better at Home services every year.

At Tonari Gumi, an army of staff and volunteers are running their own programs to assist the elderly members within their own community. For example, every week, volunteers deliver handmade bento boxes to older adults who struggle to cook for themselves.

Since 2019, the number of bento boxes Tonari Gumi has delivered across Metro Vancouver increased by 81 per cent. In 2022, nearly 2,500 bento were delivered to seniors in care facilities and at home.

But Arima, says this program is about more than what’s inside the box. It’s about the five-minute interaction that happens to put that box in the senior’s hands.

Each person making these deliveries is trained in peer counselling and knows the delivery is also a check-in, just to make sure the senior is doing okay.

“At least once a week, somebody goes there and they talk, not long, maybe just for five minutes,” Arima said. “Then if something is not normal, they either text me or call me and then we can start helping.”

Arima says Tonari Gumi also makes sure its senior members often have someone to talk to — in Japanese if they wish.

The centre’s community support volunteers make sure no member ever feels alone, she says, no matter how isolated they may be.

Last year, 23 participants in Tonari Gumi’s Telephone Buddy program received more than 870 calls from 13 volunteers. Additionally, Tonari Gumi staff made 129 individual in-person visits to participants. In total, about 300 more phone calls and visits were made last year than in 2019, signaling a steady increase in participation over the past few years.

Arima says she recalls one particularly stubborn 94-year-old participant who initially didn’t want people visiting his home. Still, Tonari Gumi’s Community Service Coordinator kept visiting him every two weeks and eventually, noticed he was losing weight.

“Then I visited him and his body was cold and he couldn’t talk,” Arima said. “I thought this is not safe, so I called 911.”

Had she not visited him that day, Arima says the doctor told her he may not have lived.

Arima says she would like to see the provincial government continue to invest in programs like the United Way’s Better at Home program, which she has seen real change come from. She adds there’s a need for more health providers in the province, who work alongside community groups like Tonari Gumi to make sure seniors living at home have the mental and physical care they need.