Putting greens, a pub and art studios: Veterans find care and meaning in their final home

When the weather’s warm many of the residents in the veterans care program at St. Joseph’s Health Care London—a patient care, research and teaching hospital in London, Ont.,—like to spend time outdoors. Behind the long-term care building that currently houses 119 residents is a vast backyard with a putting green and garden beds. There are gazebos where residents and their families can sit amidst the trees. There’s also a sound garden. “We really try and make this a great place to live for our residents,” said Sherry Frizzell, director of the veterans care program at St. Joseph’s Parkwood Institute, where the program is located. “We have a bowling alley, an art studio, a woodworking studio, a pottery and clay studio. We have music therapy classes. We really try to provide a lot of options for recreational activities for our residents.” Funded by Veteran Affairs Canada—the federal government department responsible for pensions, benefits and services for active and retired members of the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police—the veterans care program at St. Joseph’s provides services through two main departments: its long-term care centre and operational stress injury clinic. While the centre has, for a long time, cared mostly for veterans from the World War II and the Korean War, today its population counts younger soldiers who served in more recent conflicts. “Our youngest veteran is 57 and our most experienced or most senior veteran is 103,” said Frizzell. “We’re seeing veterans who were in peacekeeping missions or who were in Afghanistan, and they’re starting to come to that age and have those needs where they’re not able to care for themselves at home for various reasons and they need long-term care.” Read: Victoria group lends a helping hand to Ukraine, setting up prosthetic clinics Creating a sense of community and home is central to the design of the long-term care centre. In one unit dedicated for residents with moderate to severe dementia, the main hallway is set up to look like a street in a residential neighbourhood. As is typical in most neighbourhoods, the centre has a corner store and general store. It even boasts a drinking hole—the Iron Duke Pub, which has an expensive patio where the staff fire up barbecues throughout the summer. Frizzell said it’s not unusual for a new resident to come hesitantly into an art or music class because they’ve never drawn or painted before, or picked up a musical instrument. “But when they try it, they find they suddenly have a new hobby, a new skill they never thought they would enjoy,” she said. “We’ve got people doing woodworking, or weaving and they’ve never done it before—and these are people in their 90s who are starting a new hobby.” They’re not confined either to the buildings and grounds at Parkwood. Apart from the months of lockdown during COVID, St. Joseph’s veteran residents go out regularly in the community, said Frizzell. Weekly outings include movie screenings at the local theatre, country drives and excursions to the beach in the summer. Many of the schools in the community also invite veterans to come in to talk to their students about their wartime experiences. “Any way we can make whatever time they have left here with us as meaningful and full of joy as possible, we do it," said Frizzell. “It's a way for us to give service to people who gave so much for us.” Read: For medicine and country: What you need to know about becoming a military doctor Beyond creating a community- and homelike experience, St. Joseph’s also give residents something many other long-term care homes don’t have: direct access to an interdisciplinary team of physicians and nurse practitioners right in the unit, and to the hospital’s specialists and laboratory and imaging services. “Long-term care in the veterans care program at Parkwood looks very different than other long-term care homes,” said Frizzell. “We are in a hospital and we do have a very rich interdisciplinary team. If somebody comes up with something, like abnormal pain or if they become ill, we can actually order blood work, x-rays or an ultrasound and we don’t have to send the veteran out for that.” Similarly, if a resident needs specialist services such as physio, speech or occupational therapy, those resources are available to them right next door, in the same building complex where they live. “We also provide palliative care,” said Frizzell. “At the very end of their journey, and at the end of their life we provide that care to them and to their families. We try to not send them to hospital—we treat as much as we possibly can in our program as part of our aging-in-place philosophy.” Read: Veterans' cases raise fresh concerns about expanding assisted dying law

Putting greens, a pub and art studios: Veterans find care and meaning in their final home

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