ASSINIBOIA — Staff at Ross Payant Nursing Home in Assiniboia are looking after more than patient and resident care. The industrious group is extending their caregiving into a front patio fundraiser.
“We would love to see RPNH residents have independent access to the outdoors, in a setting where their safety is maintained. With the addition of an enclosed but open-access front patio, we hope to allow our residents this freedom while also granting them security, enjoyment, and increased quality of life,” said the team at RPN.
It is a proven, known benefit that the outdoors, flower beds to care for and view and an outdoor space to enjoy with family and friends is a key contributor to mental and physical well-being for seniors in these settings.
Carli Fjeldberg RN, and Health Services Manager for Ross Payant Nursing Home of the Saskatchewan Health Authority said, “In 2018, staff and families discussed their wish for Ross Payant to have an outdoor area that was both accessible to the residents, enclosed so could be accessed and safe to dementia residents, as well as within site of the nurses for easy monitoring."
The goal of the fundraiser is to raise approximately $150,000 with hopes of breaking ground in the summer of 2024.
Fjeldberg adds, “So far we have raised approximately $82,000 towards our goal and depending on the response at this fundraising event, we may be continuing our efforts until we meet our goal.”
Construction will be sought through a local company, although those details are not confirmed as of yet.
RPNH has 37 residents and is the largest long-term care home in Assiniboia. There is also a secure unity that allows the intake of a higher population of dementia residents, keeping families closer to home. The senior’s health centre is served by 80 staff.
Fjeldberg, staff, past families, current families, donors and SHA maintenance will oversee the project through to completion, as part of their five-year plan committee.
“This project saw initial fundraising when the Payant’s and families hosted a Ross Payant 50th Anniversary Fundraiser back in 2018. Through COVID, change in SHA management, the project lost traction. I was a staff member at the time and heard about the project and was curious about where it had gone. Now that I am Health Services Manager, I put a new committee together in the fall that invited past stakeholders and current folks to the table to revive this project. Payant family has been instrumental in seeing project continue its success as well as staff at Ross Payant including: Tkeyae Reader CCA, Delaney Elder rec coordinator, Janice Cayer RN Unit Coordinator, Kris Olson Maintenance, and myself as Health Services Manager.”
