Kim Dixon - James Bay New Horizons

By Jack Krayenhoff

Kim Dixon may be a lot younger than the seniors that come to the James Bay New Horizons, but the way she talks about them is almost motherly, rather than the way of an Executive Director, which is her somewhat grandiose official title. She smiles as she comments, "I do look after the administration, but I still make coffee and clean toilets, and I spend long hours with seniors talking over their problems. The Centre doesn't pay me very much for all of that, but the smiles and the appreciation I get from the seniors make up for it." Yes, she cares about her seniors and she cares for them - that's how she sees her job first and foremost.

JBB asks how she got into this job.

"I was born and brought up in Victoria, and when I was in my teens my mother was involved in the Esquimalt New Horizons, so I had to do with seniors already at an early age." And talking about mothering seniors, she mothered three children (she has eight grandchildren now) - no doubt that helped. But her most useful experience with seniors came as for fifteen years she worked with them in home care. This also sharpened her interest in health care, which is reflected in the program of "The Centre": a lot of emphasis on health and fitness. She started her present job in 1995.

Kim talks about of the Centre's history, which is interesting because it has a lot to do with the strong support she gets from the seniors themselves. It all started with a group of ladies of James Bay United Church having social get-togethers in the church's basement on Friday mornings. The group thrived, but the church needed renovating, so they had to move. Space was found in the Legion, but then there was a fire in that building. At that point they decided they had outgrown the church basement, and needed a space of their own.

As it happened, the federal government had at that time made grants available for seniors' initiatives like theirs. With that money, plus additional donations, they were able to buy a house located where the Centre is now. They sold the house (which was moved by barge to Quadra Island!), and with further help from the City of Victoria they built on the now vacant lot the entrance, a kitchen and the main hall of the present building. That was in 1974. Since then another seven additions were built. All this took a lot of work and money, and the people who did it naturally had a strong sense of ownership. There are still some 25 of them left, and they are a great support to Kim in running the Centre. For them, but also for many others, the Centre is the natural place to go after shopping, perhaps meeting friends in the library and having a cup of coffee. Everybody is friendly.

And that is ultimately Kim's main aim of the Centre's programs: socializing. Whether it is exercises, discussion groups, playing euchre or bridge, arts classes or any of the other programs, the thing is to get lonely seniors away from their television sets, have some fun and get reconnected with others. For many it is also an opportunity for doing some really useful work: Kim calculated that between the 150 or so volunteers, they do the work of 19 full-time staff.  

But there is more to the Centre than fitness, fun and socializing. "We try to be a resource for people who have problems at home, or who need a care facility but don't know their way through the system", Kim says. "Or maybe they are not sure how to talk to their doctors, or they have just come home from hospital and need some help organizing taking their medications, or find a source of hot meals. Many people don't know what is available for them in their own community, and we can help them with that."

More than once Kim uses the word "family" for the Centre. Perhaps that concept is best expressed by the Reassurance Program. In it, seniors who feel vulnerable and lonely in their apartment, who maybe have no children in town, will get a cheerful phone call every morning to see if they are OK, and good wishes if it is their birthday. It could be the only call they get that day.

No question: James Bay New Horizons is more than a place that lays on programs for seniors. Under Kim Dixon's leadership, it aims to be a family that cares for its members.