July 2022

SHINE’s presence as a successful innovative network has been expanding in the past few months. SHINE has been the focus of several promotional events in the past few months, raising the program’s profile as a successful and innovative response in the seniors housing sector.

An advertorial in four national newspapers in the GLOBAL HEROES section was published on July 8th. The SHINE collaboration is featured as a unique model for seniors housing navigation on a provincial, and potentially broader, scale. The article was published in the Vancouver Sun, The Province, Globe and Mail, and the National Post.

The SHINE model has received praise from leaders in the housing sector:

“The SHINE program is an important intervention that addresses health disparity gaps for elders. It is an inspiring example of what’s possible when key stakeholders come together to create person-centered care models. Simply incredible work!”

Quote by: Dr. Naheed Dosani, MSC, MD, CCFP(PC), BSc  — Lead Palliative Care Physician, Palliative Education And Care for the Homeless (PEACH), Inner City Health Associates Palliative Care Physician, St Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto.

SSSBC made a well-received joint presentation with our Nanaimo Partner Nanaimo Family Life Association at the BC Non-Profit Housing Association’s RENT conference on Vancouver Island in May.

Peter Legge’s Fridays with Seniors podcast on July 8th featured SHINE, hosting a discussion of senior’s housing issues with Laura Tamblyn Watts, Founder and CEO of CanAge, the largest senior’s advocacy organization in Canada, Kirsten Brooker, housing navigator from SHINE partner Nanaimo Family Life Association, Vi Sorenson, Executive Director of Kelowna SHINE partner Seniors Outreach Services Society and Christine Palmer, SHINE manager at SSSBC.

The podcast guests highlighted the strengths of the SHINE model and its potential to address gaps in the seniors’ housing sector at the local, regional, provincial and national levels.

In addition, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation recently recognized the SHINE program as an innovative contribution to affordable housing in Canada. SHINE was described as follows: “In following a network-based model, [SSSBC is] able to scale the impact of their platform with place-based and context-specific service provision across regions in BC…With success in scaling across British Columbia already, SHINE has built a system that, with the appropriate place-based research partners and service providers, could help protect aging in place across the country.” (Spotlight: Housing Innovation e-Booklet).