Frost Manor changes resident’s life
'It’s like night and day'
Thursday, June 7, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
Jessie Streith says she is amazed at the progress her brother Matt Webb has made in the three years he has been a resident at Frost Manor.

Before coming to the Lindsay long-term care home in 2004, Webb, 80, had spent about six months in an Orillia hospital in poor condition.

Prior to entering the hospital, Webb, who lived in Brechin, had been a busy body, Streith recalls.

“He was very active,” she says. “He loved to garden, read and fish.”

But during his hospital stay, Streith says she saw her brother’s interests wane. Although he was always a quiet man, Streith says she saw Webb become even more withdrawn.

Upon leaving hospital, arrangements were made for Webb to come to Frost Manor.

At Frost Manor, Streith says, her brother got his old life back. The home’s staff has had a positive impact on Webb’s physical and emotional well-being.

Of note, Streith says the home’s life-enrichment co-ordinator Vi O’Leary has been a big help in improving her brother’s quality of life. O’Leary, she says, wouldn’t give up on Webb and was always encouraging him to participate in the home’s activities.

“Vi kept coaxing and coaxing, and he finally said yes,” she says.

"When he first went in there he could hardly walk,” says Streith. “Now he goes out for meals. He goes for walks with Vi. He goes out for lunch. He goes to listen to the music he likes. He’s back to reading and I bring him in books.”

The differences in Webb’s personality before and after he moved into Frost Manor are amazing, Streith says.

“It’s like night and day.”

Webb, a retired industrial engineer with Massey Ferguson, now makes regular visits to Streith’s home for family meals. Streith says she and her husband try to make the trip to Lindsay once per week to visit her brother.

Streith says her brother’s old interests have come back and he is content with life at Frost Manor.

“(At first), he would just sit and do nothing. Now when we go in and he laughs and talks,” she says. “I think now he is as happy as can be. He is happy there and wants to be there.”