In praise of nursing home love initiative
Re The power of love, June 21 I would like to commend the Star and Peel Region on the story of the Butterfly program for dementia care. It’s a beautiful story about caring for the social and emotional lives of people in long-term care. It shows the heartwarming side of thought-provoking and innovative approaches to caring for such fragile people living in homes across the province.
The Butterfly program is one of many sweeping changes in person-centred care currently underway across Ontario’s long-term-care homes. Over the past decade, long-term-care homes have been moving rapidly away from the traditional institutional model and have been embracing a holistic approach, putting the person and their social and emotional needs at the centre of everything they do.
As the Star points out, long-term care is highly regulated, and the flexible approach to holistic care is often at odds with meeting the demands of legislation. Long-term care is also a largely unionized environment. Each long-term-care home needs the flexibility to decide which approaches to holistic care will work best for their residents and in their environment. But rest assured — these changes are well underway, across the province. Candace Chartier, CEO, Ontario Long Term Care Association, Toronto I have friends moving into dementia and long-term-care units. Moira Welsh’s article left me in awe at its insight and clarity. Everything in it rings true. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Meeting nursing home residents with love instead of fear or discomfort changed everything. Challenged by her words, I will, as much as I am capable, meet every one with love.
Thank you, Moira Welsh. Austin Repath, Toronto What an amazing, uplifting article on Peel’s long-term-care experiment. It makes the out-of-touch Ontario Ministry of Health’s well-meaning but rigid regulations appear from the Dark Ages. To think this is the norm throughout Ontario! Jim McDonald, Dundas, Ont. Moira Welsh’s article and video about nursing homes and the hope it generates are superb.
The solutions to better care in a nursing home, particulary for those people with dementia, are beautifully described.
David Sheard is an amazing man whose compassion is inspiring. Cam Finley, Lindsay, Ont. Wow! This article and video are heartbreaking. Heartbreaking because chances are it will make no difference in the long run, even though changes to the system are needed and deserved.
As an 80-year-old, I can only hope the changes might help my family members when they age. It will not help me. Rochelle Hatton, Sudbury, Ont. Congratulations to Moira Welsh, videographer Randy Risling and the rest of the Toronto Star team for an absolutely outstanding journalist piece in covering “a year-long experiment in nursing home radicalism.”
I can attest to the life-changing program my mother experienced as a resident on the Butterfly unit at Malton Village. Let’s agree as a society that we want the Butterfly program funded and implemented in every long-term-care facility in Ontario. Rhonda McLoughlin, Toronto