As the demand for personal support workers continues to rise across the country, an Orillia retirement home is trying to generate interest among future members of the workforce.
Eric Bryan, general manager of the Leacock Retirement Lodge, and recreation co-ordinator Allie Gordon have been working with Orillia Secondary School for about a year, making presentations to health sciences students in grades 10 to 12.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to go in and change the misconceptions about what a retirement home is. We’re not a hospital,” Bryan said.
And there are plenty of misconceptions, he has found. Many students feel a retirement home is a depressing place where people go when they’re near death. Some believe the food must be terrible.
The Leacock Retirement Lodge has a chef and culinary manager and tries to make its facility and services as exciting as possible for residents, Bryan tells them.
“There’s a lot more vibrant stuff they do,” he said, noting, as an example, they went on a bus trip to Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament.
“People aren’t sitting in hallways, in front of the television.”
It seems the students Bryan and Gordon visited recently got the message. The staff received a stack of letters.
“You changed my whole view on retirement,” one student wrote. “It’s not as bad as I thought. I didn’t think that it would be that fun.”
Some of the other comments were exactly what Bryan wanted to read.
“I am wanting to work in geriatrics, so if I move back to Orillia, I will definitely apply to Leacock,” one letter read.
“I would love to do my volunteer hours with you and your co-workers at the Leacock Retirement (Lodge),” another student wrote.
High school students are required to complete 40 hours of volunteer service, and there are plenty of opportunities to fulfil them at retirement homes, Bryan said. It could include reading to or simply spending time with residents, or helping out with activities.
“Whether they work for me or someone else, they’re helping the senior population,” he said.
The demand for retirement homes’ services is expected to increase, so the need for staff and volunteers will, too.
“We are gearing up for massive growth and massive need,” Bryan said.
That’s why he was encouraged by the response from the students.
“The letters are fantastic,” he said. “I’m appreciative of the opportunity (to speak to the students) and to see they got something out of it.”
