These implications are already being played out in the lives of elders and their families. When this elderly woman's health failed, or she needed assistance, the only recourse for this family was to bring their mother to their homes on the mainland on a rotational basis, because she refused to permanently move away from her life-long home and her roots. In communities situated in regions of high unemployment and high out-migration of the young, similar scenarios are being played out for many families today. Many of these communities are in rural areas. Whereas about one in five Canadians live in rural areas, one in four seniors do so.
Elderly people are more likely to live in rural areas than are younger people.
The challenges for service delivery in this context are evident. Elderly persons in rural areas are no more likely then their urban peers to share a household with other family members, or to include different types of kin in descriptions of their family networks, although they do report higher levels of sibling contact. However, rural environments present particular challenges in later life, in terms of the lack of variety of supportive housing options, the limited range of health and social services, and transportation difficulties. While such programs are still quite limited and provide many operational challenges, they do represent an effort to respond to the diversity of circumstances and environmental contexts that confront families in the provision of care to their elderly kin. Men and women are almost equally likely to provide instrumental care, such as shopping and transportation.