Care home looking to attract residents

Oct 17, 2018 | 6:07 PM

A long term care home in St. Isidore de Bellevue is hoping to attract some extra residents.

St. Isidore de Bellevue is a hamlet located south of St. Louis. The care home is a not for profit which was opened in 2004 after the community fund raised to build the facility. The governance of the care home is overseen by a five person board.

Right now the care home has 10 people living at it. According to manager Janelle Studer, they need more than that.

“It’s always going up and down, but normally we stay at around 12 and that’s where we need to stay to be comfortable and be able to cover all our costs,” she said.

In order to attract new residents the home is working to reach out to the surrounding area in hopes of attracting people to come look at and consider moving in.

“As it is, a lot of places, like P.A. didn’t know we were here, a lot of the surrounding area thinks that we are only for French people, so we’re trying to reach out and let everyone know that, we welcome anyone,” she said.

The care home is a facility which offers care ranging from levels one to three. The facility is staffed 24 hours a day seven days a week. The staff is made up of nine people in total and includes cooks and care workers. The services provided include meals, housekeeping and giving medication to residents.

According to Studer the drop off in the number of residents can be attributed to a number of factors, with the most common one being that people’s needs change.

“A lot of people as they get older, they need more help,” she said.

While there is not an immediate threat of the facility being closed, Studer said if the amount of residents doesn’t pick up, the home’s long term viability could be in doubt.

“We have one new resident that’s coming in, in December and we have a married couple that’s looking at coming as well, hopefully,” she said.

Studer said if the home got up to 13 residents the situation would be better, but they would like to have a full house.

“We’d love to have 16,” she said.

 

MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

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