Springdale honours veterans with Remembrance Day programs

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Although it was a smaller event this year due to restrictions in place to keep everyone safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Springdale Country Manor still honoured Remembrance Day on Nov. 11 with several activities throughout the day.

The day’s events included a two-minute moment of silence and a video program about Canada’s military history and Canadian veterans was played for residents throughout the day, says the Peterborough County long-term care home’s life enrichment co-ordinator Sonia Murney.

“We did our moment of silence, and in the afternoon one of the LEAs (life enrichment aides) brought a small group of residents together to do a service and to have singalongs,” she adds.

Sonia also read a poem and the Legion prayer over the intercom.

While there is only a few veterans living at Springdale Country Manor, the resident veterans received some extra attention, Sonia says.

“One resident veteran had a visit from her daughters, and for the other veterans we made sure they got some extra TLC,” she says.

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The Riverview Manor trees that keep on giving

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Vinyl adhesive trees at the home have been used successfully by the BSO team to engage residents with cognitive impairment in meaningful activities

The Riverview Manor Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) team has been using life-like vinyl adhesive trees to engage residents living with cognitive impairment in meaningful activities.

Riverview Manor bought the trees last year and recently put one up on a wall on each end of the Peterborough long-term care home for residents to decorate, explains registered practical nurse and BSO team lead Becky Dennie.

Residents and BSO team members have been spending time at the trees decorating them with paper leaves to match the seasons.

Currently, the trees have autumn leaves. When winter arrives, the trees will have winter items on them, Becky says.

The BSO team can take a couple of residents to the trees at a time and change the leaves to match the season as an activity, she adds.

Riverview Manor’s life enrichment department has also been using the trees to create resident programming, says life enrichment aide (LEA) Adam Wicklum.

During the Thanksgiving Weekend, LEA Taylor Ioannou accompanied residents from each side of the home to a tree and asked them to describe the things they were thankful for, Adam says.

Taylor wrote down residents’ words and placed them on colourful paper leaves with their initials.

The BSO team is also working with residents to decorate the trees during special holidays. For Halloween, there were pumpkins underneath the trees. Poppies were placed there for Remembrance Day. There will be a Christmas theme in December.

Most importantly, residents are enjoying their activities at the trees.

“The residents love the trees,” Becky says.

BSO is a provincial initiative that’s enhancing quality of life for seniors affected by dementia and other conditions that can cause agitation. The funding, which is provided to long-term care homes through Ontario’s 14 Local Health Integration Networks, is largely put towards staff education.

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DOC Laurie Gibson retires after serving Burnbrae Gardens residents for 11 years

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‘It’s a new chapter in my life; I’m closing one but opening another’

Burnbrae Gardens director of care Laurie Gibson (centre) is pictured here holding her Elisabeth Hinton Memorial Award alongside OMNI director of western operations Aimee Merkley (left) and administrator April Faux (right) during an Oct. 25, 2019 ceremony at the Campbellford long-term care home.

Asked how she was feeling about retiring from Burnbrae Gardens after working at the Campbellford long-term care home for 11 years, Laurie Gibson said “it’s bittersweet.”

“It’s a new chapter in my life; I’m closing one but opening another,” Laurie, who has served as Burnbrae Gardens’ director of care (DOC) for the past three years, told The OMNIway on Nov. 10.

“It’s hard to say goodbye to a lot of people you have worked with for 11 years. I’m sure we will see each other from time to time, but it’s not the same as seeing each other every day, so that’s a change for sure.”

On her final day on the job, Laurie’s colleagues hosted a potluck lunch for her, and she received lots of cards and well-wishes from everyone. Head office sent her a bouquet of flowers and a gift. Laurie said she was thankful and touched by the kindness she received.

“I’m just over the moon; it has been so special today.”

It’s this type of kindness Laurie said she will miss about Burnbrae Gardens. A small home like 43-bed Burnbrae Gardens, she said, is a fertile environment for friendships to blossom.

“There are many friendships one makes when you’re working in a small home in a small community, and that’s a really important aspect of your life – it’s not just a job, it’s part of your life,” she said.

Laurie began her career at Burnbrae Gardens in 2009 as the night charge RN. In 2019, Laurie was presented with OMNI Health Care’s Elisabeth Hinton Memorial Award, which is given out annually to a nurse working in an OMNI long-term care home who demonstrates excellence in nursing and exhibits kindness and caring in everything he or she does.

Asked about her retirement plans, Laurie said the first thing she will be doing is working on completing some home renovations. She is also looking forward to lots of travelling once the COVID-19 restrictions relax as well as spending time reading.

While she is looking forward to her retirement, Laurie also said she will miss working at Burnbrae Gardens.

“I will miss the residents because they are here for a long time, and you get to know them and their families, and that’s a lovely connection,” she said.

“I will also miss the staff because they’re so supportive and wonderful, and it’s nice to come to work every day and be greeted so kindly and warmly.”

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Autumn-themed craft helps keep spirits high at Kentwood Park

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Residents recently created colourful tree paintings which are now on display for all to enjoy

Kentwood Park life enrichment aide (LEA) Brandy Courtney recently created a safe, autumn-themed craft to help support residents of the Picton, Ont. long-term care home during the COVID-19 pandemic and to celebrate the changing of seasons.

Residents were provided with a paper template drawing of a tree with leafless branches. The goal of the activity was for residents to paint fall leaf colours – yellow, orange, red and brown – on the trees.

A small group of residents was provided with paint and a special tool to dab colours on the trees: broccoli.

Dabbing pieces of the vegetable into the paint to stamp on the tree branches created a realistic pattern of vibrant autumn colours, Brandy says.

“Making these colourful fall trees with the residents and using a healthy snack to do it, well, you can’t get any better than that,” she tells The OMNIway.

Brandy explains her inspiration for creating the activity for residents.

“I saw this craft online and automatically thought of my residents at Kentwood Park, and how much fun this would be to do together,” she says.

The trees have been placed on Kentwood Park’s large activity board for all residents and staff members to enjoy, Brandy says.

Brandy adds that activities like this are important to residents during the pandemic.

“It’s important to do the very best we can to keep all residents’ spirits high during this difficult time,” she says. “The residents and I had a blast making these trees, and we look forward to other pandemic-friendly crafts that I will come up with next.”

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Pub parties cap off Riverview Manor Halloween season

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Festivities capture the spirit of the season and the OMNI core value of fun and laughter

Riverview Manor started Halloween season with jack-o’-lantern decorating this year (see Nov. 2 story) and carried activities and celebrations through to the Halloween weekend, with socially distanced pub parties being hosted on the north and south sides of the Peterborough long-term care home.

For the parties, both dining rooms were decorated with jack-o’-lanterns residents designed days earlier as well as with large spiders dangling from the ceiling. Residents were also provided with pointy witch hats to wear during festivities.

To keep the pub parties safe during the global COVID-19 pandemic, seating arrangements were organized for two residents per table, rather than four residents per table, which was the pre-pandemic norm.

There were also plastic, see-through barriers between residents for added safety.

The pub parties featured beer, a variety of different pop, Cheezies and cake that was served to residents.

Riverview Manor life enrichment aide Adam Wicklum says that while the pub parties were socially distanced, the spirit of the Halloween season was as strong as ever and the OMNI Health Care core value of fun and laughter was in high gear.

And of course, Halloween parties would not be complete without lots of favourite Halloween music.

“We used Spotify Halloween music, like Ghostbusters and Monster Mash, during the party” and the scary background noises were also a hit with the residents, Adam says.

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Frost Manor family council connects for the first time since pandemic began

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Council discusses pandemic and Christmas fundraiser ideas during video conference

For the first time since February, members of Frost Manor’s family council had a meeting on Oct. 29 when they connected during a video conferencing session.

Lyndsay Burton, the Lindsay, Ont. long-term care home’s life enrichment co-ordinator, also attended the meeting which focused on several topics, including the global COVID-19 pandemic and how to create a safe Christmas fundraiser.

For many of the council members, this was a time to reconnect with one another and discuss how the pandemic has affected them and their loved ones, Lyndsay tells The OMNIway.

“Some of the meeting focused on emotional topics about how they are separated from their loved ones and how it has impacted them having a loved one living in a long-term care home and how they have had to adapt to the changes that have happened,” Lyndsay says.

Lyndsay says the atmosphere was “exciting” and upbeat for family members. Simply having a chance to see each other and chat was important to them, she adds.

“It was nice to be able to see everybody in a group setting again, and we were laughing and joking as we got tours of everyone’s home and updates about what everyone was doing because they hadn’t seen each other in so long, so it was good for them to catch up and hear about what everybody has been up to for the past several months,” Lyndsay says.

One of the topics of discussion was the annual Christmas crafts sale and fundraiser, which Frost Manor will not be able to host this year due to the pandemic.

Instead, family council discussed the possibility of having a gift-card fundraiser by contacting local businesses to donate gift cards and selling raffle tickets for gift-card prizes.

“We discussed the logistics of doing that, so that will be the question to ponder for next meeting,” Lyndsay says.

Lyndsay says the Zoom-call meeting went so well the family council will continue to connect virtually during the pandemic.

“We are going to stick to the normal days where we have council meetings, but they will just be online,” she says.

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Country Terrace treats residents to a variety of seasonal favourite meals and desserts

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From barbecued ribs to pumpkin desserts, residents have been enjoying top-notch meal service

With autumn and Halloween have come a variety of seasonal culinary favourites from the Country Terrace kitchen.

Last week, Country Terrace nutritional care manager Alex Achillini and his team at the Komoka, Ont. long-term care home prepared several resident-favourite meals and treats. For Halloween, the team prepared barbecued pork ribs that were slow-cooked for six hours.

The ribs went over very well with residents, Alex says.

“The ribs were incredible; they melted in your mouth,” he tells The OMNIway. “(We received) great comments from residents.”

Also on the Halloween menu were fancy chocolate cupcakes with an array of toppings and drizzles that residents also enjoyed, Alex notes.

“We used different flavours and garnishes for the cupcake icing; they looked pretty,” he says.

Also featured last week was a “pumpkin cart” that was created by the nutritional care team. The cart, which had a pumpkin for a centrepiece, was filled with desserts that were both tasty and sophisticated in appearance.

These included several sweets made from pumpkins, including pumpkin bars, chocolate-pumpkin cookies and pumpkin cheesecake parfait.

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Maplewood residents judge spooky Halloween trunk contest

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Maplewood residents went “trunk-or-treating” recently.

The Brighton, Ont. long-term care home’s life enrichment team came up with a creative way to engage residents in a fun activity just before Halloween.

Staff members were encouraged to decorate the trunks of their cars with a Halloween motif. The designs were presented on Oct. 29 for residents to judge in a contest to decide their favourite design.

The staff members’ vehicles were parked on the home’s front lawn and residents were invited to the patio after lunch for a viewing and some Halloween sweets, explains Maplewood life enrichment aide Rosanne Blackburn.

There were six designs for residents to choose from, including one resident’s bicycle which had been decorated with a Halloween witch in the seat.

Cook Jackie Jeffery won first place in the contest for her design which featured a graveyard flanked by two ghoulish spectres.

The contest was also an opportunity for Maplewood residents to participate in a safe activity that also captured the Halloween spirit, Rosanne says.

“The residents really enjoyed (the contest),” she says.

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Willows Estate residents and staff partake in weekend of Halloween fun

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‘Overall, this short but fun celebration of Halloween uplifted their spirits’

Willows Estate residents enjoyed a Halloween celebration at the Aurora, Ont. long-term care home on the weekend that featured costumes, a variety of treats, jack-o’-lanterns and a whole lot of fun and laughter.

Halloween is a favourite annual event at many long-term care homes, and Willows Estate residents and staff members went all out to celebrate the spookiest day of the year, says life enrichment aide (LEA) Azaria Kanda.

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, activities were held in smaller groups and socially distanced, but the spirit of the day was as vibrant as ever.

Azaria says the Willows Estate team “wanted to create the ambience of fun and celebration” for the residents.

There was also complimentary chocolate lava cake as well as tea and coffee and trick-or-treat bags for residents to pick up before they left the party.

Azaria, who organized the event with LEA Bobbi Jo Wright and the life enrichment team, says residents enjoyed their Halloween weekend.

“They were ecstatic and elated to see us dressed the part, (with) spooky music playing in the background and socializing among themselves and staff as well,” he tells The OMNIway.

“Overall, this short but fun celebration of Halloween uplifted their spirits.”

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New OMNI website feature helps families book visits with residents

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Families are praising the application for being easy to use; staff members say it’s saving them time

A new application on the OMNIway website that helps family members schedule visits with their loved ones living in OMNI Health Care long-term care homes is receiving praise from those who have used the feature and from staff members, home managers say.

Family members have been pleased with how quick and easy it is to book a visit with their loved ones, while staff members have been complimenting the application for the time it has been saving them which can be spent on resident care.

Families can visit the booking page, select the home they wish to visit and choose the type of visit they want – indoor, outdoor or virtual.

The application self-organizes and ensures double bookings don’t happen for those homes that do not have the capacity for multiple visits at a time.

For example, if one family member reserves a 2 p.m. spot for a visit on a particular day, the 2 p.m. block is then immediately removed for that day. Some homes can accommodate more than one visit at a time, and those homes have the ability to set up more than one booking for a particular time slot.

When appointments are booked through the application, home administrators receive an e-mail notifying them.

Each day’s bookings can then be printed and distributed to the staff members who organize the visits as well as to the team member who is screening at the front door of homes.

“It’s very user friendly … and it’s a great program, in my opinion,” April Faux, the administrator and life enrichment co-ordinator (LEC) at Burnbrae Gardens, says of the application.

“There is minimal room for error, we’ve never had anyone double book, and it gives families lots of options for visits.”

Sonia Murney, the LEC at Springdale Country Manor, says in addition to simplifying bookings for family members, the website feature also reduces the workload for staff members.

Because the application does all the work, staff can focus more on resident care.

“I think this is going to be a huge time saver,” she says.

At the time of this writing, 10 OMNI long-term care homes are using the application and more may be added in the future. Family members of residents of homes using the system are still welcome to phone to arrange visits, if they prefer.

Family members wishing to book a visit online can click here to learn more.

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