Celebrating the contributions of our centenariansFirst-time event a fitting tribute to 12 lives well lived
Marguerite Davis, a 100-year-old Belmont resident and former
dietician, reveals the secret to a long life: “Eat healthy, exercise, don’t smoke, be optimistic… and don’t worry!”
On June 24th, Belmont House hosted a tribute lunch for Marguerite and 11 other 100- (or more)-year-old residents. It was attended by 130 of their family members and friends.
This event was initiated by Tina Robeznieks, Belmont’s Supervisor of Activation.
It began with each resident receiving their own professionally bound biography, the result of Activation staff interviewing them
and family members, and gathering family photo-graphs. Condensing the biographies, the staff also created and displayed a full-size poster about each resident.
Activation Coordinator Brian Grant showed a 30-minute video he created called Toronto: Then and Now, highlight-ing Toronto’s remarkable transformation over the past century. Local MP Bob Rae, guest speaker, also took the time to personally speak with each centenarian.
This celebration resulted in a lengthy feature in the national edition of The Globe and Mail that focused on six residents’ life stories, and an excellent story in
our local paper, The Midtown Crier.Tina says, “It’s important to
acknowledge our centenarians, who have given so much to the community. They put everything in place so that we can have everything we have today.”
FALL/WINTER 2010
“Life is what you make of it.” Mrs. Jean Brown, 100
In this issue…
Donations at workHow donors help to improve care and quality of life for residents 2
Safety firstLearn how we’re giving residents a lift 3
Did you know that falls are the sixth leading cause of death for
Canadian seniors? Or that 1 in 3 older adults fall each year, and one third of them are seriously injured?
About 40% of those being admit-ted to Belmont House’s long-term care home come to us as a result of a bad fall. So this year, we imple-mented a new program to help prevent our residents from falling. We call it The Falling Star Program.
If you’ve noticed yellow or red
stars appearing on some of our residents’ wheelchairs or walkers, you’re seeing this program in action. A yellow star means that a resident is at risk of falling, and a red star indicates they have fallen and are at the highest risk of doing so again.
Our care teams have developed individualized strategies to lessen the chance of our residents falling. And in particular, we’re keeping a very close eye on our “star” residents!
A newsletter for donors and friends of Belmont House
4 F O C U S / BELMONT HOUSE
When Ann Bahen lost her father Richard, her mother, Lil Janes
knew she had a decision to make.At 75, Lil didn’t feel safe living
on her own, so she chose to live at Belmont House. She happily lived here until her passing at age 97 in 1997.
When Ann and her husband Bill visited Lil, they saw how well Lil was cared for, and how Belmont’s activities offered Lil a full life.
So Ann and Bill decided that when they retired, they’d live in Belmont’s Retirement Living home for independent seniors. Says Ann, “We have three sons, but they are busy with their own families. We didn’t want to become a care and concern to them.”
“Belmont is one of the best places to live,” says Ann. “We enjoy it here for many reasons: the
fellow residents, the great staff, the food, and the proximity to shops, parks, interesting neigh-bourhoods and the subway. We also love the entertainment, especially ice cream socials, and the large windows, gardens, tuck shop, and fitness classes.
“Now that my husband has developed some health problems, it is so comforting to know that help is always close by.”
Lil Janes (far right) is the first of two generations to trust in Belmont’s care. She’s seen here at a party with (from the left) Tina Robeznieks, Supervisor of Activation; resident Bess Wilson; and former staff Selma Umpherson, Debbie Morrow, and Gwendolyn Chiu.
Lil Janes’ daughter and current Belmont tenant, Ann Bahen (far left), enjoys an ice cream and a smile with tenants Elizabeth Crane, Connie Langstaff and Sydney Woollcombe.
For generations, families place their trust in Belmont House
Jie Matar, a Toronto hairdresser to the stars, learned many good things about Belmont House when one of his clients talked about how much her mother, Mrs. Margery Bennett, enjoys living here. So on July 12, to prove that beauty has no age limit, he volunteered to perform hair and makeup makeovers for 7 of our residents who are in their 90s. Pictured here are Mrs. Una Taylor (in the boa) and Mrs. Margery Bennett, looking glorious with their new stylish hairdos!
Editor: Debby MacFarlane, Director of Development, Belmont House [email protected]
Writer: Marlena McCarthy, Done Write Communications
Design: Joanne Pettigrew Design
Belmont House Foundation55 Belmont Street, Toronto ON M5R 1R1Phone: (416) 964-9231 Fax: (416) 964-3617www.belmonthouse.com
© Belmont House, 2010
MP Bob Rae with centenarian Mrs. Jean Brown, who offers this sage advice: “Take care of yourself, and be caring and helpful to others.”
Never too old to look good!
New program helps to prevent falls
Belmont House carefully chooses each of our staff members for
both their skills and their com-passionate nature. They love being of service to those whom we all owe a world of debt: our seniors. Our staff proudly creates Belmont’s culture of caring, respect, innova-tion, excellence, responsiveness and teamwork.
For more than 150 years, Belmont’s team has also included members of our community who share our belief that seniors deserve care with dignity. Like our staff, these team members give from the heart: they are our donors.
Each year, Belmont House Foundation allocates $10,000 in donations to subsidize intensive staff training. Qualified staff can receive up to $1,500 a year to help with tuition.
Hema Kirpal, our Acting Assistant Director of Care, recently received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN), thanks to tuition assistance that came from our generous Belmont donors.
Over the past 16 years, Hema has grown in skills and confidence at
Belmont, starting in 1994 as a casual registered nurse, and later obtaining full-time status. Her keen dedication to lifelong learning made her an expert in infection control, wound care, safety and many other critical healthcare issues. She shares this knowledge through her daily work and the many committees on which she plays key roles.
When Hema demonstrated real talent as a manager and mentor, our former Director of Care encouraged her to get her BScN. So over a 7-year period, on her own time, she completed all her courses and proudly graduated in December 2009.
Says Hema, “I am sharing my enhanced leadership skills and expanded knowledge with my fellow staff members. My goal is to play a part in continually improving the quality of care at Belmont.
“I am extremely grateful to Belmont donors for helping pay a portion of my tuition. Without donor support, I would not have been able to achieve my degree. Thank you all so much!”
Should you wish to make a donation to support Belmont staff in getting additional training, please complete the enclosed form and mail it to us in the handy postage-paid return envelope. In advance, thank you!
2 F O C U S / BELMONT HOUSE F O C U S / BELMONT HOUSE 3
Hema Kirpal is one of many Belmont staff who have been able to enhance their skills, thanks to the generosity of donors whose gifts went towards their educational subsidies. Hema recently graduated from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
Your donations improve quality of careDonor-subsidized training helps staff broaden skills
Many independent seniors choose to live in Belmont House’s apartments and retirement suites because our property is a lovely oasis of green in Toronto’s downtown core. Ralph Gilmour, whose passion is gardening and furniture refinishing, moved in this spring and immediately volunteered to assist with grounds maintenance. He started by digging dandelions out of our putting green and filling in the holes with soil and grass seed. Now he is revitalizing our garden benches, originally purchased thanks to the generosity of our donors. After sanding, stripping and staining the wooden slats of this bench and repainting its metal frame, he said, “I am very pleased to contribute my time to improve the beautiful landscape of my new home.”
A new tenant makes himself at home at Belmont House
On July 22, in the Belmont gardens, our residents thoroughly enjoyed the annual performance of The Band of the Royal Regiment of Canada, a group that has also played for royalty. This was just one of many special events that Belmont House residents enjoy, year-round, thanks to the generous support we receive from our donors. Other donor-funded activities that our residents enjoy greatly include our Strawberry Tea, jazz concerts, putting tournament, Smile Theatre performances, day trips on the Belmont Bus, and guest speakers.
And the band played on… …Thanks to our donors!
Just imagine this happening to you: You have an aged mother
living with you who can no longer stand on her own. She gets around well in her wheelchair. But to get her out of bed and into her chair, or from her chair to the toilet, you must lift her. Are you already imagining how sore your back would be – or how scary it would be to accidentally drop her?
Often, it is this scenario that makes families realize that their immobile loved one can’t safely be cared for at home any more. In Belmont’s long-term care home, it is our honour to take care of those who need this kind of care.
Although our staff are trained in safely transferring residents, they must lift people continually. So to save their backs and ensure each resident is safe, they use a mechanical lift with a hammock-like sling.
We have one portable lift on each floor of our residence, and 16 resi- dent rooms have permanent ceiling lifts that are available any time someone needs to be transferred.
Because we can’t currently afford to install ceiling lifts in each resident’s room, most residents must wait their turn for staff to get them out of bed, using the floor’s portable lift. Of course, our goal is to have a ceiling lift installed in every resident room.
If you believe in the compassionate care offered in Belmont House, would you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us achieve this goal? A very generous gift of $2,500 would cover the entire cost of buying and installing one ceiling lift, which can make life better for residents for years to come.
You can easily make a donation of whatever size you wish by using the enclosed form and postage-paid envelope. We hope you can do so today. Your kind act will bring a smile to a resident’s face every single day!
Giving our residents a lift
When residents can no longer stand, getting from bed to wheelchair, or wheelchair to toilet is hard. Lifting devices reduce the risk of injury. Here, resident Mrs. Elizabeth McKenzie is safely transferred from her bed to wheelchair by Health Care Aides Yordanos Seyoum and Mona Persaud.
Because ceiling lifts reduce injury and save time, our goal is to have one in each room.
