According to Statistics Canada, in 2001 there were 3,917,875 people over the age of 65 living in Canada (Statistics Canada). Considering that the total population of our country is 31, 081, 887 that is a huge chunk of people. So who takes care of these elders and how do they do it?

In a 1996 census 22,628,925 hours were spent on unpaid care to seniors by people over the age of 15 and the term ‘unpaid’ usually means that this care was given by family or friends. It may not seem like that much time to devote to someone who has lovingly cared for you since the day you were born, but with 8,760 hours in a year that would mean that over 2,500 people would spend each and every second of their day caring for the elderly.

It could be a full-time job and for many it is, but for others it is simply an added responsibility after working a 9 to 5 job. In many cases caring for the elderly is much like caring for a newborn child. You must make arrangements for someone to watch over them when you are out, ensure that they don’t wander off and help to bathe and feed them.

Kathleen Woods, from Edmonton, Alberta, had her mother live with her and her family for eight years.

“It was hard on me sometimes, but I was happy to do it. I did feel burdened because we always had to keep an eye on her, but I never minded it”.

Kathleen’s mother is in good physical shape. She does not have any health worries, nor does she need help with daily living, but she does require a watchful eye.

“She would sometimes turn on the stove and forget that she had and she did become a bit of a danger”, Kathleen recalls. “When my father first died we knew that she couldn’t live on her own so we decided to take her in and care for her ourselves”.

There were three children in Kathleen’s family and each of them would take their mother for four months. After awhile it became too much for all of them and moving her all across the country was not an easy feat. For this reason the Woods family took in their grandmother and she lived with them for several years.

Kathleen remembers taking her mother to Jamaica for her 90th birthday. While they were strolling along the beach a man stopped her and said "once a man, twice a child." Those words have stuck with her.

“She used to take care of me and now here I was taking care of her," she says, “That’s what happens when you reach a certain age. In some ways it is like being a child all over again."

In 1998 Kathleen finally put her mother into a home. She knows that soon the time will come when they have to move her out of the retirement home and into a nursing home because she is just too old.

Kathleen’s mother will turn 99-years-old on May 12 of this year. Physically she is in good condition and she is constantly smiling and recalling old memories.

“I think she remembers more of the past then she does of the present," Woods chuckles, “I am a practical person so I know that any day I could get a phone call telling me that she has passed on, but she could go on for another five years. Physically she’s in great shape, but things could catch up with her."