""Toronto has an extremely high population of seniors," they said. "Many of them do face things such as loneliness and social isolation to an even greater degree than other age groups in Toronto.""
""While in conversation with a primary care provider or a doctor, seniors who are expressing feelings of isolation or loneliness can have those conversations with their health-care providers who will then say, 'there are many resources and programming opportunities and engagement opportunities that are available through your local library,'" Davies said."
""The key reason why social isolation, loneliness is such a public health concern is that extreme loneliness has been associated with smoking the equivalent of 15 cigarettes a day,""
A $7 million gift from the Waltons Trust will fund a five-year initiative at the Toronto Public Library Foundation to support social connection for city seniors. The initiative will deploy outreach vans and community librarians into seniors' apartment buildings and expand programming to raise awareness of the health risks of loneliness and social isolation. Funding will support development of a social prescription service model to help health-care providers learn about library services and connect seniors to appropriate programs. The effort responds to a high senior population facing elevated risks of isolation and related health harms.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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