Experiencing Three Vibrant Partnerships in Action
In late March, Katrina Street, Instructional Designer, Patty Attwell, Communications Manager, along with a videographer and a photographer, visited three Living Classroom (LC) sites. The goal was to interview staff, students, and residents for an upcoming Onboarding Training Resource being developed for new partners. The visits enabled the partners behind these varied LCs to share their experiences in setting up, maintaining, and sustaining their programs. Here are some observations from those days.
Foyer Richelieu LTC and La Cité College
This Living Classroom in Welland exemplifies resilience and new beginnings in many ways. Foyer Richelieu LTC home recently moved from its original site to an impressive new building nearby. The new site plan includes a separate building to house the LC space in the near future. In the meantime, the LC has taken up temporary residence in the basement of a church a few blocks away, where space is tight but the program still thrives.
La Cité PSW students, with a current cohort size of 15, have made the best of their temporary site in some heartwarming ways. The large Francophone community in this city is reflected in the students of this LC, with the majority being French-speaking newcomers from Haiti. These students volunteer to help with seniors’ events held in the adjacent church hall. There were photos from a recent St. Patrick’s Day celebration, where they helped set up, decorate, and serve food. They were also looking forward to participating in upcoming dance lessons with the seniors’ group. Many of these students, without family in Canada, have found connection and a sense of welcome from the community through these acts of service.
The staff at Foyer Richelieu were quick to praise the students coming from the Living Classroom program. With a largely Francophone resident population at the home, the stream of French-speaking PSW graduates from this LC, now familiar with the LTC residents and the wider senior network in Welland, is a win-win for everyone.
Special thanks to Raymonde Fanfan (Living Classroom Coordinator), Manon Gaudreau (Human Resources Coordinator), and Valérie Chartrand (Director of Support Services & HR) for making our visit and video shoot possible at their Living Classroom. Foyer Richelieu students below:
Fairview Community and St. Louis Adult Learning and Continuing Education Centres
This partnership in Cambridge had a Living Classroom approach even before the funded model began, and their program gets stronger every year. Housed in the basement of the Fairview LTC home building, the students have a large space with a classroom featuring simulation-lab beds, a separate room with additional clinical-simulation equipment, and a generously sized lounge that shares space with residents’ amenities such as a small five-pin bowling alley and pool tables. At 19 students, this group from St. Louis Adult Learning was the largest cohort we visited, and the popular program currently runs a day class and a separate evening cohort.
These PSW students are all coming to the program as adult learners, some starting their first career, and others beginning a new path. We ran into PSW Program Manager Ashley Voisin stocking the fridge and pantry of what they call “The Kindness Kitchen” in the student lounge. She explained that over the years, staff had occasionally noticed students without lunch and who might have gone without breakfast as well. That’s when it was decided that some of the wraparound support funding would be used to stock a “no questions asked” supply of nourishing, easy-to-grab-and-go foods, like yogurt, cheese strings, and instant oatmeal. These quiet, kind gestures have made it possible for students to focus on their learning, with one less obstacle to success, and it shows in the collective joy around their classroom.
During our visit, Caroline, a former graduate of the LC program who is now LTC staff, led several PSW students in a mock demonstration of bathing a resident who needed lift supports in an actual bath facility within the home. The students were focused on the procedure, right down to the smallest details, like using multiple towels to keep the resident covered at all times. A gesture that is about both maintaining dignity and warmth. It was apparent that these students were taking it all in and learning clinical excellence along with empathy for each resident as an individual.
Special thanks to Michele Breault (Program Manager, Partnerships and Proposals), Jill Corkery (Living Classroom Coordinator), and Bella Monger (Student Placement Coordinator) for making our visit and video shoot possible at their Living Classroom. Fairview Home students below:
Niagara Ina Grafton Gage Village and triOS College
This Living Classroom is a modern, spacious set of rooms in the basement of the Niagara Ina Grafton Gage LTC home in St. Catharines. The current cohort of 8 students had begun the program only days before and were working on orientation material in the classroom. We watched several clinical lab simulations with other students who were nearing graduation. These students were thoughtful and dedicated to their roles. This was demonstrated in the care they took in the lab and in unprompted moments on the LTC floor. At one point, while our group was standing in the hall, waiting to speak with a resident, an alarm bell started ringing. Without missing a beat, one of the students excused herself and headed into the resident’s room who was ringing the alarm, to see what she could do for them. There was also a graduate of the program, now a PSW at the home, who shared that while she now lived very far away from her own family, she found comfort and purpose in treating the residents as if they were her own grandparents.
The home’s HR leader was effusive in her praise of the program and how it was solving the recruitment and retention issues of the past. Since hosting the LC with triOS College, she said that they were able to source a full staff of PSWs for the home, as well as refer others in the community, such as another local LTC, and the March of Dimes, to a stream of strong PSW graduates. Turnover rates that had plagued the post-COVID years were no longer a problem because they now knew the people they hired, their skills, and their work ethic intimately. Likewise, the graduates know exactly what to expect, the staff who will be their colleagues, and all the residents of the 40-bed home. This beneficial ecosystem created by the LC has made a huge difference in the daily lives of the LTC staff and residents alike.
Special thanks to Michael Bianchi (Human Resources Support Specialist), Claudia D’Jesus (LTC Administrator, Human Resources and Volunteer/Student Services), Jody Anderson (IPAC Coordinator), and Sabrina Ungor (triOS Instructor) for making our visit and video shoot possible at their Living Classroom. Niagara Ina Grafton Gage students below:
It is always gratifying for the LC team at the RIA to visit a Living Classroom. In a world that can be chaotic and divisive, each of the three LTC homes demonstrated the best of human nature. While the staff, faculty, and students at each site are unique, they are united by a deep commitment to kindness, dignity, and dedication.