CEO’s Newsletter – December 2018
Hello,
Another year is coming to an end. We have had the pleasure of welcoming a number of new residents during the course of the year. We know that most of them are enjoying their new home and lifestyle. A few are finding the transition a bit more challenging. We understand that moving into a new place is not always easy. We are there for you and we will do everything possible to make things work well for you.
We have lost some very good friends during the year and we miss them dearly. One of them was Father Alfred Desautels who had accepted to be our chaplain. In the few weeks that he spent with us, everyone realized that we could not have made a better choice. Our search for a replacement is on-going and we hope that our prayers will soon be answered.
We evaluate the quality of our services on a regular basis. We want our residents to tell us how well we are doing. This year’s survey of our Nursing residents has again yielded great results. The quality of care that we provide, the food served, the activities that we offer and the cleanliness and upkeep of our facility are rated as outstanding. Our staff is seen as being friendly, caring and always helpful. The presence of sisters Irène and Céline is a tremendous bonus. Indeed, we have great staff members and I wish to thank all of them for their tremendous work.
In my last newsletter, I had mentioned that we had decided to put on hold our proposed housing project to focus on the growing needs of our care sector. This was a wise decision on the part of our Governing Board. Our wait list for long term care services is growing month after month. We now have 40 candidates waiting for admission, a number of them are presently in hospital beds. This is somewhat surprising. The wait lists for long term care in most other facilities have gone down. There are more than 200 vacant beds in Winnipeg. Yet, here we are with an unparalleled demand. Our intention is to move as fast as possible to meet the need. To do so, we must first convince provincial health authorities that there is a long term need for the added spaces and that we have the financial resources required to cover part of the costs. I’m confident that we will be successful.
Most of you already know that our director of care, Lucie Reuvers, will be leaving us at the end of January. She is going back home to Kingston, to be with her husband Steve who is being moved from Stoney Mountain to Millhaven penitentiary. (Steve is not a convict, he’s a correction officer!!) We are very sorry to see her go and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lucie for her impressive contribution to Villa Youville. We will miss her friendly and loving presence.
You have probably noticed that we are constantly improving our facilities. Our director of services, Gilbert Audette, has made it his mission to continuously upgrade our building and services. The profits from laundry, telephone and internet services as well as other small operating surpluses are reinvested in our facility. Gilbert is spearheading this effort with the willing support of our two amazing maintenance staff members, Marcel Manaigre and Joël Tougas. They make sure that the work gets done, and that it’s done well and on time. They are the people who got us new carpeting and more recently new lighting in our common areas and even a large screen TV in Salon Marguerite. And they do it all with a smile.
The spirit of Christmas is well and alive at Villa Youville. Christmas lights and decorations have gone up all over, even in our gazebo. I want to thank our volunteers who give generously of their time to make our home look so cheerful. I have had the pleasure of taking in the Nursing’s Christmas party on Sunday December 9th. Our kitchen staff served us a great lunch while our activities people kept us singing and enjoying ourselves. Chelsea Tytgat’s cherry cheese cake was a crowning success. Approximately 200 residents, family members and friends attended the event.
I also had the privilege of attending the Pavillon’s Christmas banquet, a wonderful event which included a great meal from Céline’s kitchen, a special video, contests, prizes and superb musical entertainment.
We need to thank Nicole Trudeau, Hélène d’Auteuil and Valérie Laroche who with their volunteers and staff members take the time to put on these events which bring so much joy to our lives. And on this note of gratitude, I wish you
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.