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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1998
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A place to call T T ^                                                 ^
       A Special Report by Michelle Lang B  B           B   B   B    V
Paula Andermatt was once a World War 11 pilot. At 83 Paula still wears a baseball cap with a Lancaster plane on it. Her jacket is weighed down by airplane pins. She points her finger at the sky and talks about piloting Spitfire planes lost in Germany back to England.
    Her glory piloting days are over. Today, in her twilight years, Paula comes with her son-in-law Greg to the Hart Pioneer Centre for companionship, a hot meal, and to talk about days of old. While here, she might even shoot a game of pool.
    “She’s got to get out of the house and so we usually end up here,” says her son-in-law, 65 himself. “The people here are friendly and there aren’t many places you can go and get a meal for $3.50. They look after the elderly really well here.”
    But tragedy may be just around the corner from the centre as Paula, and the 470 seniors who use the centre, may lose their second home.
    This week the Hart Pioneer Centre went public with its financial crisis - if things don’t look up, and fast, the centre will close its doors.
    The gaming commission eliminated 19 of its 36 charity bingos, taking a huge chunk out of its main revenue. It’s a financial loss the centre won’t be able to stomach, says Pioneers’ spokesperson Denise Chenail, but the true loss will be felt by the seniors who spend their last years there.
    “If we close there will be no place for the Hart seniors to go,” says Denise, with tears in her eyes. “If we close then they will deteriorate. If they have some place to go they have a reason for living.”
    The importance of the centre to iLs members is apparent from the moment you enter it. At 10:30 on a weekday morning there are already at least 30 Hart Pioneers using the centre - performing their exercises, playing pool, making crafts or just having coffee with their friends.
    The centre truly is a network, a meeting place for those who otherwise wouldn’t have a place to go. If a regular member doesn’t show up for two or more days in a row, the Pioneers call their home and their family to find out what is going on. The names of those who are in the hospital end up on a list posted on the centre’s walls. That way, says Denise, the Pioneers know who lo visit when they make their hospital rounds.
    “This place has a heart, a spirit that you don’t often see,” says member Ada Harding. “Without this place an awful lot of people would die alone, without anyone knowing about it."
    A few years ago, when Ada’s sister was
              Needful things
           Just what does a Seniors' Centre mean to the people who use it?
              “People need that kind of social contact to remain in touch with what is going on in the world,” says Antia Hubley, an assistant professor in psychology at UNBC. “They need that to maintain the interest in what is going on around them. We also know that in terms of memory functioning and social awareness, people do a lot better when they have this kind of contact.”
              Ms. Hubley, whose area of specialty is adulthood and aging, says isolation is a serious consequence for many seniors.
              “One of the greatest concerns that gerontologists have is with seniors who are too isolated. People’s friendships throughout their lives are important. That doesn’t change when you get older.”
measures like making their full-time cook part time. They will also consider closing their doors one clay a week to save money.
    Ultimately none of these measures will stive the centre unless there is a drastic turnaround. Centre administrators say the doors will close in September if things don’t improve.
    “1 won’t accept it, it can’t close,” says Ada. “It means loo much to too many people. The people here only have one place still lo come, to be a part of the community they built. This centre is desperately important. We watch over one another here.”
    “Sometimes the younger people forget about seniors,” she adds. “They worked hard all their lives and now they (the youngsters) are reaping the benefits. Maybe it’s payback time for the seniors.”
Paula Andermatt, 83, shoots a game of pool at the Hart Pioneer Centre. The seniors who use the centre say their social network will be severed if it closes.
                                                                                                                                                                                      John McKenzie/Free Press
sick, she would call the centre to check up on her sister’s health. She knew she could rely on the Pioneers for accurate updates, calling the centre a “lifeline” of sorts.
    Her sister’s health has since improved, but Ada travels here to live with her during the winter from her summer home in Victoria. Ada says she comes with her sister to the Pioneer Centre three or four times a week to knit crafts and “for the fellowship.”
    Like Ada, Viola Plefferle and her husband come several times a week to play cards, to socialize and to eat a hot meal. Despite her physical ailment, which is probably osteoporosis, Barbara Lennox goes to the centre daily.
    These members are very concerned that the centre might close. They wish they could do
more fundraising but many times their age holds them back. Like many members Barbara does what volunteer work she can, peeling potatoes for dinners.
    Unfortunately the centre's family dinner and pancake breakfast each month isn’t enough. The Pioneers also hold monthly dances, pool tournaments, crib tournaments and craft sales. But the attendance is sporadic and the centre has been quite dependent on its bingos for some time.
    Revenues from their bingos have dropped from $208,(XX) over two years to $164,000 over two years. As well, new gaming regulations have prevented the centre’s annual raffle from going ahead.
    Now the centre is looking at cost cutting