Salem Home celebrated the completion of the renovation of one of its units Friday along with the addition of a new elevator to the secure section of the care facility.
The project included a much needed facelift for the Evergreen unit, which had dated back to 1986, and it included everything from a fresh coat of paint to new flooring and new lift systems in the rooms.
“I think the staff will be thrilled about it,” said CEO Karin Oliveria. “Their resilience and compassion over the past several months has been nothing short of inspiring.”
She cited the importance of the project in relation to the quality of life for residents at the facility.
“I think the residents will be surprised. They have no idea what this looks like now,” she said.
“We always try to aim for a home-like environment. We want to decrease the responsive behaviours … with the colours that we choose and everything that we do, it’s to help achieve that,” she said. “So the residents can feel good, and the staff are safe. Those are things that we take into consideration when we’re choosing furniture and colours.”
The renovated Evergreen unit has 26 rooms in what is known as the dementia care unit.
“We have people here who need a little bit more supervision,” said Oliveria, explaining how the residents in the Evergreen unit were temporarily moved to the lower level while the improvements were being completed.
“We had some empty rooms from a previous renovation that were done on the main floor. Instead of filling them first from outside, we decided to move the residents from the second floor down, so they were all still in their own independent rooms.”
So there was a lot of work and planning involved in “trying to keep on top of everything and making sure that the timing would match up.
“It went very smoothly because they gave us four to six weeks to get the project done, and they kept it within that time frame,” she noted, expressing her gratitude for the support of Southern Health-Sante Sud to make the project possible along with funding through Shared Health.
“There were a few things that needed attention,” she said. “With the help of the Salem Foundation and through donations from our generous community, we were able to do the work on that care area.
“We’re very thankful for the community that we live in,” Oliveria concluded.
