SCOA 35 Years: Model the Change We Want to See
Elliot's first encounter with the Saskatoon Council on Aging was in the early '90s, when she was a social worker at Royal University Hospital. SCOA was putting together a protocol and pamphlet on elder abuse — and they'd pulled together hospitals, community agencies, and mental health organizations to make it happen. For someone working daily with clients who had nowhere to turn for information on these issues, watching a group of older adults drive that kind of collaboration was striking. "I was impressed beyond words," she says.
When she retired in 2004, she'd planned to volunteer at inner city schools. Then a phone call from board member Muriel Baxter changed that. Knowing SCOA's track record — the seniors shuttle that became Access Transit, the day programs still running today — she said yes.
Two things, Elliot believes, genuinely shifted the organization's trajectory during her time on the board. The first was the Age Friendly Saskatoon Initiative. Before 2011, SCOA was project-driven — good work, but without an overarching framework. When Candace Skrapek brought World Health Organization research on age-friendly communities to the advocacy committee, everything changed. A successful New Horizons for Seniors grant got the initiative underway, and by 2016, SCOA had moved from reacting to individual projects to operating within a coherent, strategic vision. The second turning point was governance: developing bylaws and eventually strategic planning gave the organization a foundation that could outlast any single person or project.
That continuity, Elliot thinks, is part of what's kept SCOA going for 35 years. "Some organizations are dependent on one or two or three people — SCOA is not." New board members bring new ideas. Staff provide consistency. No single hierarchy dominates. It's collegial, and it works.
She's also quick to credit the people who taught her along the way — particularly longtime treasurer Bruce Irvine, whose patience with financial statements helped Elliot find the confidence to eventually serve as president.
Her birthday gift to SCOA would be a mindset: model the positive aging you want to see. What SCOA does — across housing, health, finances, and social connection — makes it possible for more people to age with dignity.
That's the impact she wants the community to remember.
Elliot Paus Jenssen is a former SCOA president, volunteer and current member of the Age-Friendly Community Development Committee