Senior’s Centre without Walls (SCWW) have become very popular within the community of Moose Jaw since its introduction during 2020 when COVID-19 took over Canada.
The main objective of the program is to support the seniors of the community for their mental health wellbeing. In our society, younger generations accepted the freedom of social media and can meet virtually with anyone whenever they want. However, our seniors might be reluctant from using online platform and some of them might even have no access to internet or a laptop computer except for their phones.
Considering all these important aspects, SCWW made the most user friendly way for seniors of Moose Jaw to communicate and get in touch with the programs they offer over the phone.
Although, SCWW is situated in Moose Jaw, their access is completely all over Saskatchewan. Anyone from the province can register for their programs and is able to benefit by their mental health care interactive programs. The best part about their program is, it’s completely free.
Over the years, SCWW of Moose Jaw has organized many programs and most of them touched the hearts of the local community. They organized “Put the Coffee On” which was partnered with Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Farmer and Ranch Mental Health (FARMH) initiative.
This fall 2022, they took the initiative of several activities such as “Piano Favourites,” “Art Classes by Phone,” “Shades of Green,” “Reflection on Louis Riel” and “Metis Pride and the Sash.”
“Piano Favourites” is an ongoing program, which recently started and is ongoing until the end of the year. Lorne Jackson conducts the program every Friday from 10 - 11 a.m.
Jackson plays old-fashioned music with a varied genre of country, rock, gospel, blues, folk, traditional, holiday and many others. Jackson is also a volunteer of SCWW.
“Art Classes by Phone” is affiliated with Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery’s Education Coordinator, Christy Schweiger. Within this program, all art materials and supplies are mailed by SCWW to the participants without any cost. For registering and getting all the necessary art kits for this program, participants were asked to register before Sept. 1.
The schedule is listed below for Thursdays from 100-11am.
Sept. 22, 2022: Exploring colour with pencil crayons (primary colours)
Sept. 29, 2022: Exploring colour with watercolours (secondary and tertiary colours and learning about colour wheel)
Oct. 20, 2022: Exploring with acrylic paint (symmetrical drawings and colour balancing)
Oct. 27, 2022: Pencil crayon gradation
Nov. 17, 2022: Edward Poitras gallery tour and pointillism activity inspired by MJMAG Indigenous beadwork collection
Nov. 24, 2022: Pen and Ink drawing
Dec. 15, 2022: Fun with air dry clays at home
Dec. 22, 2022: Christmas clay ornament decoration with acrylic paints
“Shades of Green” also known as “Creativity for Brain Health” is another program that is also associated with Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery Education co-ordinator, Christy Schweiger and by TimeSlips facilitator Catherine Livingstone.
The program will have four sessions: Nov. 16, 23, 30 and Dec. 7. Previously, the theme was birds and agriculture/the land; this time the theme will be shades of green using many tones of green. Each session will start with a specially-curated warm drink.
The tasting of the drink will vary with each session. All the artwork, prints and paintings will be featured from Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery collection. The coordination of the program will be informal and non-judgmental with the promise of fun.
“Reflection on Louis Riel” will be held on Nov. 16 from 1-2.30 pm on Nov. 16, which is also known as Louis Riel Day in Saskatchewan. This date marks the anniversary of Louis Riel’s execution that took place in 1885.
Alison Kimbley is going to do the presentation for this program. In her presentation, the importance that Louis Riel carried for the development of Canada, with an additional five fascinating facts of Riel thatmany people might not be aware of, and an inclusion of the battle of Batoche will be discussed.
Participants of this program will also be able to play the Metis Timeline Game.
“Metis Timeline Game” will take place on Nov. 18. The program will be coordinated from 1 -2.30 pm.
Participants of this program will have a discussion about Metris pride and the sash, including the significance of the sash. All participants will finger-weave bookmark sized sashes. Discussion time for Q&A are also included within the timeframe.
All programs of SCWW are free and anyone from Saskatchewan 55 years of age or older can easily join. All participants are able to join these programs from their own home. These programs are coordinated by phone call in a conference call format. For all the programs, SCWW is requesting anyone interested to pre-register; all materials required for partaking in these events and programs will be mailed to the participants with no cost at all.
The purpose of SCWW for organizing such events and programs is to help the aging population of Moose Jaw who are challenged by a number of health and mental illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and loneliness.
The programs are designed to help them make connections and to spend quality time with other senior members of the community. SCWW has observed some seniors have been able to connect in relationships with others through these initiatives, by sharing contact information just to stay in touch.
For registration for any of these programs please contact Senior’s Centre Without Walls Saskatchewan using their phone number which is 306-631-4357 (no texts). Participants can also email them at swwsask@gmail.com.
