[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":221},["ShallowReactive",2],{"activist-section-olive-bryanton-projects":3,"activist-olive-bryanton":125},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"description":12,"extension":117,"meta":118,"navigation":119,"oldPath":120,"path":121,"seo":122,"stem":123,"__hash__":124},"activistSections\u002Factivists\u002Folive-bryanton\u002F03.projects.md","Projects",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":108},"minimark",[9,13,18,29,33,39,48,51,54,58,63,66,75,79,84,93,97,102,105],[10,11,12],"p",{},"Olive started the seniors' newspaper, \"Voice for Island Seniors\", which is still published by the local daily newspaper, The Guardian. She also established the Seniors' Active Living Centre with input from a committee of seniors and construction support from the owner of the mall in which it was first located. After a few years, the Centre moved to a new location that proved unpopular, and with support from the City of Charlottetown and an exceptional Mayor of the time, the Seniors' Active Living Centre finally became part of the Charlottetown Area Recreation Inc. (CARI) complex. With improved accessibility and parking, membership increased to approximately 400 and continues to grow.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"seniors-college-at-upei","Seniors College at UPEI",[10,19,20,21,28],{},"In 1997, Olive was invited by Professor Thom Nilsson to explore the establishment of new learning opportunities for older adults. Within months, the first public meeting was held and Olive was invited to chair a steering committee exploring the feasibility of the project. After much deliberation, it was decided that the Seniors College would be an autonomous membership-based, peer-governed organization affiliated with UPEI but having its own Board of Directors, with courses facilitated by peers. A memorandum of agreement was signed with the University in July 1998 and the first Board of Directors elected with Olive as first President. The ",[22,23,27],"a",{"href":24,"rel":25},"http:\u002F\u002Flifelonglearning.upei.ca\u002Fseniorscollege",[26],"nofollow","Seniors College"," continues to flourish today, with an outreach component in Summerside and in Montague, and a membership of more than 600 with over 40 courses offered.",[14,30,32],{"id":31},"seniors-safety-program","Seniors' Safety Program",[34,35,36],"blockquote",{},[10,37,38],{},"Scams are targeted toward seniors, and the most vulnerable seniors, those who are isolated in their home and do not get out to information sessions, are lacking the tools they need to protect themselves.",[10,40,41,42,47],{},"This issue was identified in 1999, when it became evident that a series of workshops on Frauds and Scams that Seniors' Federation was offering was not attracting or reaching the more isolated seniors. In response, Olive established a committee of stakeholders to find ways to reach seniors who would not or could not attend information sessions. The committee included representation from the RCMP, City Police, Public Trustee, Consumer Services, the Royal Bank and the Seniors' Federation. This group searched for and found a model that was being used in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. A partnership chaired by Olive was formed with a view to implementing a similar program in PEI, and the ",[22,43,46],{"href":44,"rel":45},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.seniorssafety.ca",[26],"Seniors Safety Program"," was created.",[10,49,50],{},"The Program provides isolated, vulnerable, and community-dwelling seniors with personal safety, home safety, and health information designed to help reduce fear of crime, vulnerability to frauds and scams, and susceptibility to unscrupulous contractors and abuse. The program is delivered to groups as well as individual seniors in their home and covers a wide range of valuable information designed to provide access to services that will promote safety and independence at home and in community.",[10,52,53],{},"The PEI Centre on Health and Aging at UPEI is presently working on a project with a province-wide scope to raise awareness on abuse of older adults by forging networks and information-sharing among researchers, adult protection and support organizations, policy makers, and seniors' organizations. They propose to increase the knowledge of 200 Island seniors on how to identify and prevent the abuse of older adults through a Seniors-to-Seniors Awareness Program grounded in different communities where they live.",[14,55,57],{"id":56},"bridging-the-generation-gap","Bridging the generation gap",[34,59,60],{},[10,61,62],{},"A great way for seniors and youth to purposefully work together … both groups found out there really is no difference between people's ages when everyone wants to be seen as an important part of society.",[10,64,65],{},"Olive strongly supports intergenerational activity and mutual respect. She won competitive funding from the New Horizons Program to initiate and coordinate an intergenerational event with participants from the Seniors' Active Living Centre and Rotary International students, who worked together to write scripts related to issues impacting both segments of the population. Students from all over the world participated and after many rehearsals the project presented an evening performance that showcased seniors' and students' talents alike.",[10,67,68,69,74],{},"Currently the Chairperson of the Board of Directors for the ",[22,70,73],{"href":71,"rel":72},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.yahtheatre.com",[26],"Young at Heart Musical Theatre for Seniors",", Olive regards the project as superb enrichment for seniors who live in long-term care facilities, and a forum for dealing with issues that are meaningful to the senior demographic. It is a unique professional theatre company dedicated to developing original material based on Canadian subjects, well-known persons or historical events, with five successful productions to its credit, and counting.",[14,76,78],{"id":77},"success-is-never-guaranteed","Success is never guaranteed",[34,80,81],{},[10,82,83],{},"It's there for government to decide what seniors should have, and not for seniors to let government know what they need.",[10,85,86,87,92],{},"Olive cautions that activists may fail, no matter how sound their arguments for progressive action and social inclusion. At the time she was serving on the PEI Senior Citizens' Federation, the provincial government was setting up a Seniors' Advisory Committee, and asked Olive to propose her vision for best governance and goals. Her document highlighted one particularly significant recommendation for achieving fair representation of seniors' issues across the province: ensure that each major senior's organization would be on the Committee with two more seats at the Minister's discretion. Much to her chagrin and great disappointment, a simplistic rationale was adopted instead that based seat selection on linguistic groups (French and English), and county locations. According to Olive, this was a poor formula. It was eventually revamped in 2006, but still does not feature a variety of seniors' representation from such groups as the retired teachers' and faculty associations, and individual senior clubs or the Seniors Active Living Centre. According to Olive, the perspective of the ordinary senior citizen is missing from the revamped ",[22,88,91],{"href":89,"rel":90},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.gov.pe.ca\u002Fsss\u002Findex.php3?number=1025787&lang=E",[26],"Seniors' Secretariat",".",[14,94,96],{"id":95},"motivation-for-social-activism","Motivation for social activism",[34,98,99],{},[10,100,101],{},"Seniors feel they are imposing, and if they can't reciprocate, then they just won't do it. They will sit home and become depressed and not get to do things they should be doing.",[10,103,104],{},"Olive summarizes her pressing issues as: (1) Ageism in public and private discussions about seniors that works against a complex, respectful understanding of generational needs and attitudes; and (2) widespread public ignorance of what is needed for seniors to live healthy and productive lives. She believes that most seniors want to be participating in society without depending unduly on their families.",[10,106,107],{},"The attitudes held by some seniors contribute to reduced opportunities for their ease of integration into social activities. They don't believe they have the right to ask for assistance to do more than get out to medical appointments, buy groceries, or do their banking. And while people often come forward to help out with the essentials, when it comes to visiting and doing such things as going to wakes and funerals, visiting cemeteries to maintain the flowers, or just going for drives in the country, there seems to be no help. Olive remarks that neither the seniors themselves, nor their younger family members, seem to fully appreciate how important and life-enhancing these social activities can be.Seniors want to improve their quality of life but often don't have the transportation to make this happen. Much of Olive's activism has been focused on encouraging seniors to respect their own needs and demand services that will allow them not to be entirely dependent on volunteers and families in order to be healthy and participate in their community.",{"title":109,"searchDepth":110,"depth":110,"links":111},"",2,[112,113,114,115,116],{"id":16,"depth":110,"text":17},{"id":31,"depth":110,"text":32},{"id":56,"depth":110,"text":57},{"id":77,"depth":110,"text":78},{"id":95,"depth":110,"text":96},"md",{},true,"\u002Folive-bryanton\u002Fprojects","\u002Factivists\u002Folive-bryanton\u002Fprojects",{"title":5,"description":12},"activists\u002Folive-bryanton\u002F03.projects","eIrmy7OPESCIKOkCBhYL3lEJiecDsxi1j_HMb5MKMNc",{"id":126,"title":127,"body":128,"description":174,"extension":117,"links":175,"meta":185,"navigation":119,"oldPath":186,"path":187,"pictures":188,"portrait":198,"portraitAlt":199,"province":200,"quote":201,"sections":202,"seo":217,"stem":218,"summary":219,"__hash__":220},"activists\u002Factivists\u002Folive-bryanton\u002Findex.md","Olive Bryanton",{"type":7,"value":129,"toc":172},[130,139,142,145,148,157,160,169],[10,131,132,133,138],{},"Busy as usual, Olive Bryanton had only been at her University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) office a short time before Liz Burge arrived to interview her. When Liz had been president of the ",[22,134,137],{"href":135,"rel":136},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.stu.ca\u002Fresearch\u002F3rdage",[26],"Third Age Centre"," at St. Thomas University, she had met Olive, who had come to give a talk there. Liz was now eager for an update on Olive's indefatigable activism. What followed were two-and-a-half hours of lively, focused reflection on past and present social challenges.",[10,140,141],{},"Born in 1936, Olive was raised by her grandparents in Kensington, PEI. In 1952, she graduated from grade 10, the highest grade of high school at the time, and worked in Summerside from 1952 to 1956 in retail stores. She married, and between 1955 and 1966 bore five children.",[10,143,144],{},"After attending night school for secretarial skills, Olive went to the Central School of Nursing from 1968 to 1969 and graduated as a Licensed Nursing Assistant. She worked at the PEI Hospital in Obstetrics from 1969 to 1971, and with a medical specialist from 1971 to 1980. For five years in the latter half of the '70s, she owned and managed a small community care facility, which she sold in order to focus more fully on school.",[10,146,147],{},"In 1984, at the age of 47, she received her degree from UPEI with a major in Sociology and a minor in Canadian Studies. From 1984 to 1987, Olive worked for St. John Ambulance as a Healthcare and First Aid Director. It was in the late 1980s that she began to work in earnest on issues related to seniors. In 1988, Olive worked for the PEI Gerontology Association, researching and writing a book on housing options for older adults on PEI. At the same time, she organized a Seniors' Housing Conference with Canada Mortgage and Housing.",[10,149,150,151,156],{},"From 1989 to 2000, Olive served as Coordinator of the PEI Senior Citizens' Federation and founded a newspaper called ",[22,152,155],{"href":153,"rel":154},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.peiscf.com\u002Fvoice_for_island_seniors.html",[26],"Voice for Island Seniors",". In 1992, she began the process of establishing a Seniors' Centre in Charlottetown, which was officially opened in January 1993. Olive served as President of the Seniors' Centre for two years and presently chairs the Education Committee.",[10,158,159],{},"In 1998, the Seniors' College of UPEI was formally launched. The following year, Olive researched and initiated a provincial PEI Seniors' Safety Program, together with the RCMP, the Public Trustee, and Consumer Services—for which she is the current President.",[10,161,162,163,168],{},"Working as Coordinator for the ",[22,164,167],{"href":165,"rel":166},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.upei.ca\u002Fprojects\u002Fcsha",[26],"PEI Centre on Health and Aging"," at UPEI since 2000, Olive's activities range widely from her involvement with the Seniors' Safety Program, to Chair of the Young at Heart Musical Theatre for Seniors, Board of Directors for Community Legal Information Association, and Board of Directors for the United Way of PEI.",[10,170,171],{},"In May 2000, Olive received an Honorary Degree from the University of Prince Edward Island, Doctor of Laws (LL.D.). Nine years later she graduated with a Master in Education degree with thesis.",{"title":109,"searchDepth":110,"depth":110,"links":173},[],"Busy as usual, Olive Bryanton had only been at her University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) office a short time before Liz Burge arrived to interview her. When Liz had been president of the Third Age Centre at St. Thomas University, she had met Olive, who had come to give a talk there. Liz was now eager for an update on Olive's indefatigable activism. What followed were two-and-a-half hours of lively, focused reflection on past and present social challenges.",[176,179,182],{"url":177,"title":178},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.theguardian.pe.ca\u002FOpinion\u002FEditorials\u002F2010-10-12\u002Farticle-1840912\u002FThis-scam-can-happen-to-you\u002F1","The Guardian: This scam can happen to you",{"url":180,"title":181},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.cbc.ca\u002Fnews\u002Fstory\u002F2001\u002F02\u002F23\u002Fpei_insurclaim.html","CBC: Older drivers claim age discrimination",{"url":183,"title":184},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.cbc.ca\u002Fnews\u002Fstory\u002F2001\u002F03\u002F09\u002Fseniors_insurance010309.html","CBC: Seniors charged higher rates for being old",{},"\u002Fcontent\u002Folive-bryanton","\u002Factivists\u002Folive-bryanton",[189,192,195],{"image":190,"caption":191},"\u002Fimages\u002Factivists\u002Folive-bryanton\u002Fpicture-1.jpg","Olive Bryanton receives cheque from RCMP officer for funding for the PEI Seniors' Safety Program.",{"image":193,"caption":194},"\u002Fimages\u002Factivists\u002Folive-bryanton\u002Fpicture-2.jpg","Olive Bryanton with participants of Bridging the Generation Gap.",{"image":196,"caption":197},"\u002Fimages\u002Factivists\u002Folive-bryanton\u002Fpicture-3.jpg","Hank Stinson serenades Olive Bryanton with \"I Love the Sardines in Your Hair\". From Young at Heart Theatre Rotary Magazine.","\u002Fimages\u002Factivists\u002Folive-bryanton\u002Fportrait.jpg","Portrait of Olive Bryanton.","Prince Edward Island","I’ve always tried to make things more equal for older people and have them recognized as viable citizens in our society, citizens we need. That’s not easy when they don’t see themselves as being necessary to society. It is sad that you can’t appreciate that you have contributed to this society.",[203,206,209,211,214],{"slug":204,"label":205},"forming-her-activism","Forming Her Activism",{"slug":207,"label":208},"practising-social-activism","Practising Social Activism",{"slug":210,"label":5},"projects",{"slug":212,"label":213},"creating-change-lessons-skills-and-advice","Creating Change: Lessons, Skills and Advice",{"slug":215,"label":216},"last-words","Last Words",{"title":127,"description":174},"activists\u002Folive-bryanton\u002Findex","For over 25 years Olive Bryanton's name has been synonymous with consistent and informed advocacy for senior citizens, and especially the development of new services and ideas for better social policies; but younger generations also command attention because of her belief in better inter-generational understandings.","N5pfiK3jFBOWQod581N3mM-eqeyqvYu1bw-gZg17m_k",1789062652032]