A project to build a province-wide caregiving strategy for Saskatchewan is going forward thanks to the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence (CCCE), a program of the Azrieli Foundation, awarding $99,000 to the Saskatoon Council on Aging (SCOA).

The new initiative by the SCOA to centralize caregiving resources and create a province-wide caregiving strategy will be supported by the funding.

Through consultations, SCOA recognizes the existing serious service gaps, which it says are significant. The province-wide caregiving strategy hopes to address these serious gaps that include caregivers not having enough access to respite care, which causes caregiver burnout, financial pressure, feeling alone, and a lot of emotional stress.

June Gawdun is the Executive Director of Saskatoon Council on Aging and says there is also a significant need for resources in rural areas. “Distance is a huge issue for rural caregivers because services are just too far away for them to access,” she explains.

Gawdun also says, ‘’There is also a lack of culturally appropriate services, especially for Indigenous and newcomer families.”

SCOA is committed to not duplicating, but rather, enhancing existing efforts by collaborating with key provincial initiatives and communities.