Springdale residents helping others
Tuesday, April 3, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
Wayne Crowe and Pearl Cruse are a “huge help” to staff at Springdale Country Manor, says Scott Ladoucier, supportive measures specialist at the Peterborough long-term care home.

Crowe and Cruse both share rooms with cognitively-impaired residents at the home. Both residents have forged friendships with their roommates. Neither resident considers having a cognitively-impaired roommate to be a challenge. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

“I enjoy helping him,” says Crowe. “My roommate is the best.”

Crowe, a retired General Motors employee, helps his roommate by spending time with him, talking to him and making sure he’s comfortable.

“I’ll put a blanket around him and make sure he’s warm … I keep an eyeball on him when he’s sleeping,” he says.

A three-year resident at the home, Crowe says helping others comes naturally to him.

“I just do it,” he says. “I’ve always been like that.”

Like Crowe, Cruse says she is glad to be able to help her cognitively-impaired roommate. Cruse raised a daughter with cerebral palsy. She says this experience has helped her provide care to her roommate who has Alzheimer’s disease.

Cruse enjoys spending time with her roommate. Some of the things the two do together include watching TV and listening to music. Cruse also assists staff by taking care of day-to-day chores.

“I get her clothes on hangers so the morning staff gets their work done faster,” she says.

Cruse, who has been a Springdale resident for two years, says being a friend to her roommate leaves her with a feeling of accomplishment.

“It makes me feel good doing something for somebody else,” she says.

Springdale does not separate cognitively-well residents from those who are not cognitively-well. This practice has proven to be beneficial, says Ladoucier.

“One of the main advantages is that we are never moving people from room to room,” he says. He notes that segregating residents “can have quite a profound effect on them.”

Ladoucier says spending time with cognitively-impaired residents is helpful to staff and good for residents.

“The residents have always been identified by what they did,” he says. “The feeling of being needed and told we have made a difference is something we all can identify with.”