Group home for dementia patients to occupy vacant building in Hanmer
Plans in the works to hire 10 staff members to work at White Owl Residence
A Sudbury couple hopes to convert a former convent in Hanmer into a not-for-profit group home for patients with early onset dementia.
White Owl Residence is the brainchild of Sophie Huneault and Paul Gagnon, who plan to renovate the three-storey building at 36 Cote Blvd. into an 11-room community living facility.
Nine of those rooms would be for residents: one would be for respite, while the final space would be a transitional room.
The goal is to raise $1 million for the renovations said Huneault. Then, if all goes well, the facility will open in the spring of 2018.
The home will be for clients or residents who have early onset of dementia or Alzheimer's disease.
Gap in services
It was while trying to find help for Gagnon's father in 2014 that the couple discovered the gap in health care services.
The now 88-year-old elder Gagnon had been diagnosed with early onset of dementia, but was not sick enough to be admitted to an Alzheimer's ward at a long-term care facility. Huneault said her father-in-law was also not well enough to stay at home. He is now in Stage Two of Alzheimer's and lives with the couple in Garson.
The three-story building, which is more than 500-square metres in size, needs to be brought up to code said Gagnon.
They want to raise at least half their goal — $500,000 — before they even start the work.
There are several fundraisers planned to help raise the money.
Huneault said they are also seeking government grants, but because White Owl Residence is a new organization, they keep coming up against roadblocks.
"Right now we're kind of falling in the cracks of the criteria of the program descriptions for us to qualify." said Huneault.
She said she is not getting discouraged though.
"There is always money available, it's just a matter of how to get to it," she added.
The closest dementia group home similar to what White Owl Residence would be like is in Trois-Rivières, Que., she noted.
"It has been done in other countries and in other provinces." said Huneault.
"When an individual in the early stages [is] placed in an area where it's familiar, where it works around what they're used to, it actually diminishes anxiety and depression that may come if [the individual is] placed in an environment that's not suited for them."
Their life's mission
Both Huneault and Gagnon have backgrounds in health. Gagnon works in the service-oriented field at Health Sciences North, while Huneault has worked in the field of geriatrics and has been a personal support worker.
She called this [caring for dementia patients] their life's mission.
The couple plans to hire 10 staff members to work at White Owl Residence, once it's ready for occupancy.
Huneault and Gagnon will live in the bottom level of the home with their 10-year old son, all three helping with the care of the clients at the home.
They both said they want to bring back the old way of care; in a family-type atmosphere.