Seniors Programs

Seniors Support

Programs and services primarily available for and used by seniors. 

Advocacy Centre for the Elderly – legal services for low-income seniors and education on elder abuse, dealings with healthcare facilities, care homes, pensions, theft etc.  Call 1-855-598-2656

Flamborough Connects – provides services mainly for Flamborough seniors and others in the community who may be isolated and/or of limited income.  Services include bussing to shopping, shopping and delivery, driving to appointments, snow shoveling, income taxes, educational sessions, gentle exercise classes and holiday gifts. 

Flamborough Seniors Centre (FSC) – located at the Waterdown Library building, FSC runs programs in arts & crafts, fitness and dance, cards and games and social get-togethers including presentations and meals. FSC is one of several Seniors Centres with the City of Hamilton and is open Monday to Wednesday.
Call 905-546-2424 Ext. 6315

Hamilton Fire Department, Alarmed and Ready – homeowners who have challenges with installing or maintaining home alarms due to physical or mental health, age or financial concerns, can request a Firefighter to come to their home by appointment to check, install or maintain alarms at no charge.  Call 905-546-3382.

Hamilton Police Service, Seniors Support Officer – to help seniors with challenges such as home safety, frauds and scams and elder abuse.  Call 905-546-4925

Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program – a program for low-income Ontario seniors (65 and over) without other dental coverage.  Covers regular check-ups and preventive care, fillings, extractions, x-rays, treating gum disease and infections. There is partial coverage for dentures. Call 1-833-207-4435.  Applications require a guarantor and must be mailed.  They can be printed from the website or obtained through Hamilton Public Health at 905-546-3500.

SAM Adult Day Program – A program of Good Shepherd provides a structured day out for seniors and adults who are unable to participate in their usual social and recreational activities.  The goal is to stimulate, activate and maintain through a variety of physically, mentally and socially engaging activities.  Held at Notre Dame Centre 1921 Snake Rd. Monday to Thursday 8am to 3pm.  Call 905-525-5632 or email SAMProgramOffice@gsch.ca

Seniors Centre without Walls – a City of Hamilton program, providing free recreational activities over the phone with a group of other older adults in the community. Participants can socialize and join in on Trivia, Family Feud, Finish the Lyrics, Brain Games and Fitness Classes, all over the phone for free.  To register call 905-073-0891 or email scww@hamilton.ca

Seniors Program, Catholic Family Services – case management to remain living independently, live with dementia, intervene in cases of neglect and provide peer support.  Call 905-527-3823 or email intake@cfshw.com

Elder Abuse

Flamborough Connects is a local contact for information about elder abuse. Callers who believe they are being abused, or suspect that an elderly person is being abused, can receive information and will be referred to the most appropriate community resources.

Elder abuse is the use of power and control by one individual to affect the well-being and status of another, older, individual. There are several types of abuse of older people that are generally recognized as being elder abuse, including:

• Physical: e.g. hitting, punching, slapping, burning, pushing, kicking, restraining, false imprisonment/confinement, or giving excessive or improper medication
• Psychological/ Emotional: e.g. humiliating a person. A common theme is a perpetrator who identifies something that matters to an older person and then uses it to coerce an older person into a particular action. It may take verbal forms such as name-calling, ridiculing, constantly criticizing, or non verbal forms such as ignoring, silence or shunning
• Financial abuse: also known as financial exploitation. e.g. illegal or unauthorized use of a person’s property, money, pension book or other valuables (including changing the person’s will to name the abuser as heir). It may be obtained by deception, coercion, misrepresentation, undue influence, or theft. This includes fraudulently obtaining or use of a power of attorney. Other forms include deprivation of money or other property, or by eviction from own home.
• Scam by strangers: e.g. worthless “sweepstakes” that elderly persons must pay in order to collect winnings, fraudulent investment schemes, predatory lending, and lottery scams.
• Sexual: e.g. forcing a person to take part in any sexual activity without his or her consent, including forcing them to participate in conversations of a sexual nature against their will; may also include situations where person is no longer able to give consent (dementia)
• Neglect: e.g. depriving a person of food, heat, clothing or comfort or essential medication and depriving a person of needed services to force certain kinds of actions, financial and otherwise. The deprivation may be intentional (active neglect) or happen out of lack of knowledge or resources (passive neglect).
• Abandonment: deserting a dependent person with the intent to abandon them or leave them unattended at a place for such a time period as may be likely to endanger their health or welfare.
• Rights abuse: denying the civil and constitutional rights of a person who is old, but not declared by court to be mentally incapacitated. This is an aspect of elder abuse that is increasingly being recognized and adopted by nations
• Self-neglect: elderly persons neglecting themselves by not caring about their own health or safety. Self-neglect (harm by self) is treated as conceptually different as abuse (harm by others).
• Institutional abuse: refers to physical or psychological harms, as well as rights violations in settings where care and assistance is provided to dependant older adults or others

To reach the designated seniors support officer, call the Hamilton Police Service:
P.C. Kim Kikas #722
Seniors Support Officer
Division Three – Station 30 – Mountain
Phone: 905 546 8917
Fax: 905 546 3830