HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-06-25, Page 6Warm and friendly
The modem county homes for the aged are peaceful and relaxing , less insitutional than the
facilities of the past.
The Village
of Brussels
Welcomes
and Congratulates
Huronlea on your
Grand Opening
owo, Reeve - J. Gordon Workman
Councillors -
J. Bruce Hahn, Greg Wilson,
Mary Stretton, David Hastings
Congratulations Huronfea
from
JR's GAS BAR SE
TAKE OUT LTD.
• Daily
Specials
• Movie
Rentals
887-6951
• Pizza
• Subs
• Ice Cream
• Esso Gas Bar
BRUSSELS
The Township
of
East Wawanosh
Congratulates
Suronfea
on its new facilities
and Grand Opening
•
PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN/JUNE 1993.
Lobby towers serve as guides for residents
Continued from page 5
Like many large rooms in the
homes, the courtyard walls are
asymmetrical in an effort to help
residents orient themselves. The
lobby towers also serve as a guide
for confused seniors.
Adjoining the lobby is the resi-
dents' sitting room where school
classes and groups can perform.
This too, has been carefully
designed.
"When I design a care facility, I
put as many of the resident areas as
close to the nurses' station as I
can," said Ms Lamb. "I've found
that residents tend to gravitate
towards the nursing station. It's just
as if you're in a hotel, become
bored and sit by the front desk to
watch people come and go. Resi-
dents do the same thing."
So unlike older homes, where
wheelchairs crowd the walkway
past the nurses' station, Ms Lamb
put the sitting room directly in
front of the station so residents can
see the nurses and nurses can see
the residents. "This also tends to
reduce wandering," she said.
Exiting the sitting rooms are cor-
ridors leading to the alzheimer
wing, the residential wing and the
extended care wing.
Here, the beige walls are broken
up by either pink or blue door
frames. The colored doors are resi-
dent rooms while the nondescript
beige door frames are staff or laun-
dry rooms that residents don't need
to enter. It's another orientation aid.
Further on there's the dining
room, the bathrooms and hairdress-
ing salon complete with farm ani-
mal and psychedelic print
wallpaper.
The residents helped pick out
their wallpaper in an effort to make
the place feel more like home.
Ms Lamb recalls one day when
she was showing wallpaper sam-
ples to a group of residents. She
wasn't getting much response until
she showed a print of racehorses.
Suddenly a gentlemen called out
"It's about time you showed some-
thing for the men". Then another
recalled a time he'd been kicked by
a horse and another remembered a
foaling. The wallpaper brought
back memories and though many
people wouldn't put it up in their
home, it appealed to the residents.
These extra design features are
the final touches to the buildings
Ms Lamb began designing over a
year and half ago.
When the county hired Lamb and
Warman to design both Huronlea
and Huronview in 1989, Ms Lamb
was told to design two one-story
buildings incorporating two facili-
ties in one—extended care and resi-
dential.
Both buildings incorporate the
same general design with the cen-
tral tower, but special features
relating to each community give
the buildings a unique look, she
said.
"I wanted each building to be as
individual as possible. I didn't want
them to look like a 'Gail Lamb'
architectural structure, but like a
community structure," she ex-
plained. Hence, Huronlea incorpo-
rates the village traits such as fish
Continued on page 7