To say Eva Navrot is active in her community of Williams Lake is a bit of an understatement. When she isn’t working at the Seniors Activity Centre, volunteering with the emergency operations and response team, or tutoring new immigrants in English, you’ll find her out on the local trails or an aquafit class.
Eva is BC CRN’s newly appointed Regional Mentor for Cariboo and Chilcotin since February 1, 2024. Eva has been working with the BC CRN since 2021 when she was volunteering at the Senior’s Activity Centre and former Mentor Linda Martens approached the Centre to consider becoming the host agency for the William’s Lake area. Eva had heard about CRNs and was excited about learning more.
As she started volunteering with the BC CRN, her volunteer role at the SAC became a paid position which led the way for opportunities to expand her collaboration with the CRN. When she took on the role of Coordinator, she began to build and facilitate a monthly gathering of community businesses and organizations who assist seniors with various services. At these meetings, each of the representatives share information about their services and identify any community members in need of extra care and implement a coordinated community response plan.
The Community & The Challenges
The Cariboo/Chilcotin region has three CRNs currently serving 100 Mile House, Williams Lake and Quesnel. There are 16 known First Nations communities within the area, some of which have a smaller population and are more remotely located. Winter in this region can be very cold and snowy.
Eva and her husband live in Williams Lake township where she notes that the area is small enough that most everything is only about 10 minutes away. But for those without private transportation, accessing goods, services and social events can be a real challenge. Especially this time of year, the short days and long cold nights, coupled with limited public transportation, do not foster a walkable community. One of the larger seniors’ living residences is located quite a distance out of town, making accessibility even more difficult and social isolation a real concern.
Like many towns and cities in BC and around Canada, the increase in an older adult population is straining available services. Seniors residence housing is limited and mobile services such as foot care are difficult to find in remote communities and can be expensive for many lower income seniors. While Interior Health and Canadian Mental Health have branches in the area the chronic shortage of physicians limits people’s access to much needed care and services and deters a younger population seeking affordable places to live outside the big cities.
Williams Lake also has a burgeoning Latino community along with other people groups. Though the city has a few government and private immigration services, there are still gaps to meet the need to learn English for successful employment. Eva was part of a local multi-cultural book club for new Canadians the last couple of years where attendees learn English through reading and discussion. These days she is not involved in the large group events as much as focusing on one-on-one tutoring with a couple individuals she has personally connected with.
Goals
Eva’s goals as Regional Mentor for the Cariboo/Chilcotin this year are to connect with the current Coordinators to learn more about what is happening in each of their communities. She plans to create a strategy to help the CRNs become more recognized and a valuable resource hub for educating around elder/adult abuse & neglect within each community by continuing to build relationships with designated agencies and local businesses. She will work on fostering recent interest for partnerships from some of the Indigenous communities. Her past work with First Nations groups will be an asset in her new role when working with community elders and representatives.
Eva will be transitioning from her paid position at the Seniors Activity Center back to being a part-time volunteer this spring, leaving her more time to focus on her Mentor role and other interests. She has been volunteering with the local emergency operations and response team. Last year her chapter was part of emergency assistance coordination for the registration of the Kelowna fire evacuees arriving in Kamloops. She plans to do more training through the Justice Institute in order to more efficiently manage emergency responses and encourage surrounding communities to learn and implement the emergency response programs technology.
When she is not working or volunteering, Eva enjoys hiking, aquafit, and creating art with a variety of paint mediums and working on unusual canvases like animal skulls. She and her husband love spending time with their 2 grandkids in Kamloops and traveling.
Read more about Eva in her Regional Mentor mini biography.
Explore our website to learn more about BC CRN or connect with your local CRN for more information or resources.
