Finding volunteers a struggle in small rural homes
Thursday, December 8, 2005 -- John Driscoll
Finding volunteers is an ongoing challenge for small, rural, long-term-care homes.

“We do have a hard time getting volunteers because we are somewhat isolated,” says Julie Clarkson, life enrichment co-ordinator at West Lake Terrace, a 47-bed home in the Picton area.

“We do have a small group of very dedicated volunteers,” Julie adds. “And we are using our monthly newsletter and word of mouth to try to attract more volunteers.”

It’s one of the challenges that West Lake has been facing this year, she says. The biggest challenge has been transportation, Julie says

“It’s a huge challenge,” she says. “We don’t have a van and the municipality has no wheelchair transportation.”

Volunteers and staff have been providing transportation for mobile residents but with gas prices rising, it is becoming a larger challenge to arrange transportation, she says. “We do have the promise of a shared van in the near future and that should certainly solve that problem.”

There have been several successful enrichment programs at the home this year, she says. One of the most successful is the “Soup’s On” program which involves residents going into the kitchen to prepare food, from home-made relish to chilli that is served as a meal to all residents.

“The residents love preparing the food and many of them are experts at it,” she says.

West Lake has a continuing good relationship with the adult learning centre at Loyola Continuing Education with regular co-op placements at the home for students in the PSW program, she says.

A recent Loyola placement, Tara Molyneux, is now working as a PSW at West Lake, Julie says.

Julie sums up life at West Village this way. “Residents love the family-type atmosphere here. And we like to boast about the fact that many of our staff have been here for 20 years or more. That says something positive about our home and the people who live and work here.”