Forest Hill encourages couples to live together
Wednesday January 30, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
When a person moves into a long-term care home it can often be beneficial to them if their spouse joins them in their new accommodations, says John Donzil, assistant director of care at Forest Hill.

In some cases, only one half of the couple is in need of long-term care. But having the person’s partner join them in the home can help ease the transition. The familiarity this brings, notes Donzil, can be important to the well-being of residents.

“We’re really supportive of that and we want (couples) to be together,” he says.

At the moment, there is one couple living at the home, but there have been many more over the years, Donzil adds.

Sometimes when couples move into the home together the family members will ask that they live in separate rooms, due to one spouse being more assertive. But in most cases, Donzil says the home does its best to have couples live together and accommodate their needs.

Because of high demand for long-term care, it can often take several months for the home to arrange a shared room for a couple. Even so, Donzil says there has been a lot of positive feedback from family members as a result of the home’s efforts to accommodate couples.

“When we take the initiative, families are very appreciative that we went that extra mile to put their parents together in one room,” he says.

As a testament to the importance of having couples live together in long-term care, Donzil recalls the story of a gentleman who moved into Forest Hill while his wife was living in another home. Upon moving in, the man was quiet and withdrawn and upset about living on his own.

But then his wife moved into Forest Hill.

Before his wife’s arrival, the man had never participated in the home’s activities, opting instead to stay in his room. However, his wife was an outgoing person and with her encouragement the man began participating in programming.

“As soon as she moved in, his whole life changed around,” says Donzil.