Interview with Chateau Glengarry Retirement family member, Wolf Muller

When Mum needed to move out of her house because of her health issues, she could no longer cope living in the house by herself. We asked around, and Chateau Glengarry was recommended. We also felt, because we live near Alexandria ourselves, that close proximity was a real asset. There were other residences that were recommended to us, but they were in Cornwall or towards Ottawa, which is like a 45-minute drive. We didn’t feel that comfortable, especially with winter and so on.

Since COVID, things have really changed. Prior to the lockdown, we were able to go and visit her at least twice a week in her room. Once the lockdown came in, and the residence was really strict as far as allowing people in, we had not been in her room since that time, and that was well over a year. We were able to visit every now and then in a special room that they had assigned, but that was only once a week, and it had only been like three or four weeks ago that we were able to do that. The residence was very successful in keeping COVID out. There was only one incident, and that one was of a worker, and the rest of the people in there did not have any COVID symptoms.

She found it difficult living at home by herself at the end, even though we helped her with other things like all the paperwork, shopping, and stuff like that. She had outside helping cleaners. But once it was decided that she needed to go into a retirement home, she accepted it. Because of the structure in the home where everything is set to a certain time frame and she doesn’t have to do anything about it, she sort of lived with it and became comfortable. She liked it when she was on her own at home, but then she realized that she couldn’t do it anymore by herself.

She has her favorite nurses, and unfortunately, because of COVID, they started moving around. There were nurses that she really liked, and I guess they found a different job or closer to where they lived, and they’re no longer there, so that had to be replaced with another nurse. But she has a couple of favorite nurses, and she has a person that she eats with regularly that she’s reasonably close with.

They used to have Highland dancers coming, they used to have fiddlers coming, they have bingo and they have fitness class. But all that because of COVID has sort of changed. When the Highland dancers come in or fiddlers and so on, they go up and dance. It’s a standard room.

The residence is an older residence. It’s not as modern as some of the residences that they have in Cornwall, for example. But those residences are big. There are 120-plus people in those residences, and in the one where she is, there are maybe 35 maximum. So it’s a fairly small community, and the room is standard. It’s got a washroom, a full washroom, and enough room for a bed, a television, a small refrigerator, an air conditioner, a couch, a chair, and a dresser.

There certainly is an improvement with her health. She has become more stable. She used to have flare-ups, and those flare-ups are very infrequent now because she’s getting her medicines on time. Everything is scheduled.

I think she has changed, yes. She used to be very anxious about what’s going to happen. Now she doesn’t bring that up.

One thing that stands out is being in a small town. It’s got its own hospital. We have an audiologist who comes in and fixes hearing aids. We have a very good eye doctor in town, we have good dentists, we have obviously a bank, and we have a fire station very close by that has an ambulance station attached to it. So everything is pretty close. It’s a small town.

Some of the nurses are older people themselves, so they know what it feels like to be old. So they are caring, yes.

It takes a load off me because I used to worry about her being at home. We had her on Lifeline, and many times the Lifeline would phone me in the middle of the night, saying that there is something happening. I’d have to go there to make sure that she’s okay. It took a load off me. I feel relieved now that she is in a place where she’s being looked after 24/7.

It’s just in the last two weeks that we’ve been able to take her out to supper, which was a regular thing with us all the time. We used to take her out twice a week to our house to have supper at night, and this Sunday will be the third time in the last three weeks that we’ve been able to do that. So things are easing up as far as COVID.

It’s an older establishment. It’s a very clean environment from what I can tell. Before that, when we were able to visit, the establishment was kept very well. It’s really clean, and the layout is very nice too. Easy to get in and out. Also, the rooms are never far away from the central areas, like the dining room or the entertainment room, and so on.

It’s pretty hard to make a decision for somebody else, but the only thing I can say is do your research and do some visitations, which we did. We visited a couple of other places and made our decision on the basis of what we felt comfortable with and what she would feel comfortable with.

The decision was really by word of mouth, and it was recommended because it was close and because it was small. It’s not a big place like where all of a sudden she would be a part of a 120-person residence with three or four stories. This is all on one floor, there are no elevators involved, and it’s easy to get around.

It was pretty fast because she had a bout with her health, and she ended up in the hospital for four weeks. The decision then was made that you can’t go back to your house; you have to go into retirement. That’s how it came to be. The search was probably two weeks prior to her being released, and we knew of the two places that were in town. Then it was a decision. We contacted Ontario Health and they gave us some suggestions as to where, and just by virtue of location, we decided on Chateau Glengarry.

Moving her was reasonably easy. Moving all her furniture and everything out of the house was a different process. She had to decide what she wanted to take, or what she could take. She took pictures, and a dresser, a chair, a television, and that kind of stuff. All the rest of it, a lot of it is still sitting in my basement.

The room was ready, and she was able, because there was, I wouldn’t say a shortage, but we didn’t have a choice as to what room she would move into. At first, she was in a very small room, and we had our dibs in for a larger room, which she’s in now. Probably within four to six weeks, she was able to move within the residence to a larger room because that became vacant.

I don’t think I would do anything differently because of the choices. There are more modern residences available, but you have to travel 45 minutes each way. I would probably revert to the same residence. It’s easier on us, too. Easy for me to pick her up, easy for us to go and visit her.

If she has to go to the eye doctor, it’s almost within walking distance, and there’s a doctor on call within Chateau Glengarry that she needs, who comes around once a month, I guess. Her dentist is very close, too, and she’s become very fond of the dentist. The dentist has become very fond of her because he has a mother who’s very old, too, so he appreciates her. It’s a bilingual community, and the people are exceptionally friendly. Being a small town, it’s not like a big city where you are one of a million. There, people nod at you when you’re walking down the street. They acknowledge that you are there.