Dan Levitt, B.C.’s newest seniors advocate in action ahead ion the release of his first report after taking up the role from Isobel MacKenzie.© Provided by Vancouver Sun
Story by Glenda Luymes
Representing the concerns of a million B.C. seniors is a big job.
As Dan Levitt steps into the role of provincial seniors advocate , replacing Isobel Mackenzie, he’s aware the job will only get bigger.
“In 12 years, in 2036, one in four people in B.C. will be a senior,” he said Thursday. “We have seven years to prepare for the first baby boomers to hit 85.”
While he has one eye on the future, Levitt’s focus is on the present. His job requires him to monitor the status of seniors services in B.C. and make recommendations to government. He expects to issue his first report on rent subsidies for seniors in early June.
As B.C. grapples with crises on multiple fronts, from housing to overdoses, Levitt will need to strike a balance between working with government and urging it to prioritize the needs of an aging population.
A marathon runner and father of two daughters, Levitt, whose father ran a care home in Vancouver, has long been an advocate for older people, doing a degree in gerontology before working with Canada’s first geriatrician in Toronto. When he returned to B.C., he began working in long-term care. He was the executive director of Tabor Village care home in Abbotsford when the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Levitt was notable because he wasn’t afraid to speak publicly about the outbreak at Tabor Village, which led to 26 deaths over three months in late 2020.
In an interview at that time, he said discussions about outbreaks in care homes had to be reframed to include community responsibility.
“If we can control the virus in the community, we can control the virus inside the nursing home. Older persons are so important and we should be protecting them,” he said.
B.C.’s new seniors advocate Dan Levitt said he found his voice during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was executive director of Tabor Village in Abbotsford and faced an outbreak among residents and staff.© Mike Bell
He would later speak of the need for residents to be able to decide for themselves if they wanted to remain in a care facility under the restricted conditions necessary to prevent the spread of the virus, as well as the importance of timely access to medical and hospital care and regular communication with family members.
“We as a society must do everything to change the aging journey,” he wrote in a column for The Vancouver Sun. “Just because a senior lives in care does not mean their rights are any different from anyone else.”
Looking back, he said he found his voice during that time.
Levitt said he will set his priorities by listening to B.C.’s seniors. After touring the province in April and hearing from more than 50 groups representing seniors, he said affordability is among his top concerns. Rent subsidies for seniors have not kept up with the rising cost of rent, with “catastrophic” consequences for those who have been unable to find a place to live in their community.
“Aging in place is a myth if you can’t live in the community where your family is, where your bank is, where you buy your groceries, and you have to move somewhere else because of rent,” he said.
