This year, the Saskatoon Council on Aging is celebrating 35 years of keeping seniors, active, engaged, educated, and supported.

The SCOA’s 35th Anniversary Ambassador, Dr. Murray Scharf, says the organization has evolved immensely over the years. It was established in 1991 following a care-reliance shift from community to government, and a ten-time increase in the local population of seniors between 1951 and 1991.

Scharf says SCOA’s first ever initiatives were a resource centre and a care-giver information centre.

“That was to provide information so seniors could accommodate themselves into senior years, provide them with training, encore career training, mutual support, et cetera.”

Following that, SCOA’s goal was to erase ageism against seniors, and today, the not-for-profit has a new focus: adapting society to suit longer lifespans.

Scharf explains that many seniors are living twenty years or more past retirement. Although this is a positive indication for the health care system, older adults are finding themselves without enough money to make to the end of their life.

“We’re going to have to have people in our society start working until they’re 75, because with the improvements in the health system, the life expectancy is going to move into the nineties, and these people need to have the revenue to do that.”

Over the decades, SCOA has provided over 400 programs and services, and looking forward, its future priorities include addressing social isolation, enhancing support services, and improving access to information.