Next week, Let No One Be Alone

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Next week, Let No One Be Alone

Details: Published on Thursday, April 28, 2016

By Kira Paterson

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

From May 1 to 7, Manitoba communities will be celebrating Let No One Be Alone (LNOBA) week. LNOBA is an initiative created in 2012 to raise awareness for people, especially seniors and those with disabilities, living alone.

The founder, Brenda Tonn, works in Plumas as the resource coordinator for Plumas Senior Support Services. She has seen the impact of loneliness in seniors and wanted to do something to help put an end to it.

During the week of awareness, communities host different events, such as barbeques, teas or concerts, and invite seniors and those who live alone to come out and socialize. Tonn has organized a barbeque in Plumas for Monday, May 2.

In Neepawa, Home Assistance Neepawa and District (HAND) is the organization that puts on a LNOBA week event.

This year, HAND is celebrating their 30th anniversary the week after LNOBA week, so they will also do their LNOBA event that week. For the anniversary celebration, they will be having a luncheon at the Yellowhead Manor drop-in centre on Wednesday, May 11. In attendance will be HAND’s regular congregate meal program clients, as well as past and present HAND board members, Mayor Adrian de Groot and Tricia Hunter from the Prairie Mountain Regional Health Authority.

Then, on Friday, May 13, HAND will be having a congregate meal event for LNOBA. The meal will start at 11:30 and will also be in the drop-in centre dining area.

HAND began back in the mid-80s “out of a need to supply seniors and handicapped with resource information that would assist them to continue to live independently and with dignity in their own residences as long as possible,” stated an article from the January 16, 1986 edition of the Neepawa Press.

The organization lives out the LNOBA initiative all year by holding congregate meals for seniors every week, as well as organizing informational sessions and other events for seniors throughout the year. This year, some events include Arthritis Pain Busters Forum, patient safety day, Alzheimer Memory Walk, seniors protecting against fraud session, hearing information session and mature driver safety session.