Residents at Burnbrae Gardens enjoy the warm summer weather in their new
window box gazebo in the home's garden area.
Burnbrae’s garden gets makeover
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
Residents at Burnbrae Gardens are enjoying the sun in a refurbished garden area complete with new furniture and flowers, thanks to the generosity of a former resident’s family and the hard work of the Campbellford long-term care home’s staff.

Dina Minardi, who had been a resident at Burnbrae, passed away in May. When the home contacted her family to let them know they would be reimbursed for $800 of Minardi’s expenses, the family insisted the money be spent on residents.

With the home’s garden area in need of improvements, Burnbrae’s staff spent much of July 6 and 7 buying and setting up 30 new plastic chairs, a 10-by-10-foot window box gazebo, two patio tables and umbrellas. The home also purchased new flowers for the garden.

Life enrichment co-ordinator April Anderson says the garden area looks much better now.

“It’s amazing,” she says. “It actually looks like a sitting area now and not a cement walkway.”

Maintenance man Harrison Montgomery and his wife Cheryl, who works in the housekeeping department, came in on their own time to help clean up the area and set up the new furniture.

Anderson applauds the Montgomerys’ efforts.

“They are a great team,” she says.

The new-and-improved garden has changed the ambiance for residents, Anderson points out.

“I think it’s a different view for them,” says Anderson. “It’s calm and quiet. . . . Before, the only view they had was a busy road.”

Anderson adds that residents are “excited” about the gardens facelift, adding they have some ideas of how to utilize the area.

“They have future plans,” says Anderson. Some of these plans include an entertainment evening complete with live music, a fireworks night and more barbecues.

Anderson says the garden’s new look will also allow a better spot for outdoor one-to-one activities with residents. Outdoor one-to-one activities were held at the front of the home before.

“It’s a lot more of a calmer environment than out front, where people are always coming and going,” she says.

There is still $100 of the money left and Anderson says staff plans to use the money for any touch-ups to the area.