Making care homes feel like home
Studies show social isolation is worse on a senior’s health than heavy smoking
The crossword on Denisse Keefe’s door is a nine-word autobiography: His friend Chris saved his life, he was a short-order cook, he loves rock ‘n’ roll music, he’s a whiz at cards, and he makes coffee every morning at his longterm residential-care facility.
“It makes me feel really good,” said Keefe, proudly pointing out the ZZ Top posters and high-scoring cribbage hand also taped to his blue door.
In Vancouver’s Youville seniors home, staff recently helped residents decorate their doors as part of a “megamorphosis” movement by Providence Health Care to make these facilities look more like a home.
“If you enter into many facilities for residential care, or care homes, these days you might think you are in a hospital, and that is not really a place you want to spend the end of your life,” said Dr. Ken Tekano, Providence’s head of residence care.
“So within the constraints of the physical space, we are trying to shift the model from a medical model to a social model. And that is the way of the future, from our perspective.”
Recent data collected by the B.C. seniors advocate, Isobel Mackenzie, indicates socialization must be improved in most of B.C.’s 293 residential-care homes.
Even though these retirees live with many people, nearly half say they feel isolated and have little social engagement when it comes to interacting with other residents and taking part in activities.
Indeed, this was an area where Youville — a specialized home catering to residents with challenging behaviours, which also has a mental-health unit for older adults — needed improvement when Mackenzie gathered her statistics in 2016-17. Nearly 75 per cent of residents reported feeling isolated then.
Today in Youville, quilts, fancy hats and painted flowers adorn the walls that lead to the personalized doors, which provide a small introduction to the person who lives inside.
Staff painted “A good looking man lives here” on the front of Roy Vowels’s green door, prompting a recent visitor to ask him about music.
While he shyly talked about his mother teaching him to play and about being in a band, it is clear he is very modest about his musical accomplishments — and his looks.
This inexpensive progem has been done at two Providence residential homes, and the intent is to expand it to the rest, Tekano said.
Loneliness can be as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, some studies have shown, and is a topic families may want to raise searching for a home for a loved one.
“Ask what kinds of recreational programs the home has. How many staff? How many active volunteers a facility has. What does the calendar of events look like?