To help the residents at the long-term care facility in Shawville feel as much at home as possible, the staff at the Pontiac Hospital organize events in which residents interact with the community.

This past month Annik Angrignon, the manager at the long-term care facility, organized a . . .

brunch for the residents who were able to enjoy fresh sausages, pancakes eggs, toast, maple syrup and beans.

“We’re just trying to think outside of the box to make things happen for them. We’re just trying to make their life as best as we can,” said Angrignon.

Julie Soucie, a registered nurse assistant at the hospital, came up with the idea to go around town and tell businesses about the long-term care facility and see if they would be available to give donations or volunteer because they’re always looking for volunteers, she explained.

The businesses that did get involved were Pontiac Home Bakery, Joanne’s Valu-mart and Giant Tiger. One of the employees donated maple syrup from her family’s sugar shack and one of the resident’s family donated the eggs.

The initial idea was to try to get residents out to a sugar shack, but due to the inaccessibility of such places it was hard. It was important to plan this event because they wanted the residents to enjoy a home-cooked meal, said Angrignon.

In the coming months, Angrignon hopes to be able to organize a barbeque with residents’ families if covid permits and take them to the Shawville Fair to see the animals. Apart from the bigger events they also plan things like bingo nights or shopping days to allow the residents to be out in the community.

“We have very large projects, but it would be nice for our residents to be involved and create connections with the daycare or with the schools. We want our residents to be involved in the community to be able to have visitors, to be able to live the best life they can,” said Angrignon.

Without the community’s support, donations from local businesses and the support of her team, they wouldn’t have been able to organize this event, Angrignon told The Equity.

“We just wanted to say thank you and also if people do want to get involved in our residence life, even if it’s just to come in for an hour or so and sit down with the residents and read to them, we’re open to anything. We’re just trying to keep in touch with the community,” she said.

Currently, the long-term care facility can only hold 25 residents, and with hospital shortages in the Pontiac, Angrignon added that they have a resilient staff that has been going above and beyond to ensure their residents are happy.

For anyone interested in volunteering, reach out to Annik Angrignon at annik_angrignon@ssss.gouv.qc.ca

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