Interview with Emerald Gardens Retirement Residence family member, Carman Scherlie

I can only speak from my own experience, and what I appreciate the most about Emerald Gardens, of course, is the people, the staff, and the friendly environment. It’s also, of course, a very nice building aesthetically, the lobby, and my mother lives in a one-bedroom suite, which is very nice, well kept, and well maintained. But I would have to say, mainly, of course, the people are what make the building. There have been some changes. My mother has been there now since 2008, and there have been changes in staff, and every changeover has been great. I just can’t say enough about the staff and, of course, the friendly environment.

What I’ve been most impressed with is the social atmosphere, with their bingos and various social activities that they have for the seniors, birthday parties at the end of the month, and just how happy the residents seem to be and enjoy their time there and the activities that are afforded them. Pre-COVID, of course, once COVID hit, things had to shut down like everywhere else in the country.

My mother’s suite is very roomy and comfortable. It has air conditioning, thank goodness, and with the recent heat wave, that’s been a real bonus. She can turn it on and off as she wishes. Cleanliness is fine, sometimes when they’re short-staffed, of course, but they do their best to keep the suite as clean as they can with the time they have.

Emerald Gardens is maintained very well. The upkeep is good. At Christmas, they have it all decorated for the season outside and inside. In the summer, they have flower boxes, brand new flower boxes out this year, and a well-kept, very colorful entranceway. It feels like home.

She was a very social person, and after my father passed, she was in her own apartment for five years, and I found that she just wasn’t getting enough social interaction. As soon as I mentioned moving to Emerald Gardens, at the time, she was quite open to the idea. Within a couple of weeks, two to three weeks of adjustment, and through them, including her in all the social activities, my mother’s whole demeanor changed back to what she’s really like. I was very thankful to see her returning to her normal self, so to speak.

If she had been living on her own much longer, I would have seen quite a change in her mental state, and just in being the social person she was. Lately, now with her being on oxygen, she doesn’t go out much, but she still likes to go for her walks and go down for the mail. She is 99.8 after all, and it’s kind of just slowed her down more, but she’s still very friendly with the people she comes across.

Once again, I guess it comes back to the staff. It’s a very caring and nurturing environment. They have the safety and care of the patients uppermost on the agenda. COVID has certainly brought that to the surface, loud and clear. Overall, Emerald Gardens has seen very few cases of COVID, and it’s due to the diligence of them following the protocol and just ensuring that the regulations are being followed very strictly, which is good, and they don’t tolerate people disrespecting that.

I was just so thankful because all of us across the country were hearing about long-term care facilities and the publicity involved, and I was just so scared that something was going to happen to Mom and the rest of the residents. I wasn’t allowed to see Mum until a year ago in July. Once the protocols came into effect, I couldn’t even see her in the hospital or when she came out of the hospital.

So I would have to say the care and nurturing environment for sure, just as reflected through all the staff, would have to be my number one thought. The staff just put their own needs behind to make sure the residents were well taken care of, and they were tired. You could see it on their faces. But they’re not quitters. They just went forward with their job and did the best they could and then went home exhausted, I’m sure, but they kept the residents’ needs uppermost.

I wrote many thank-you cards during COVID, many thank-you cards and flowers. I just couldn’t say enough. I always call them my angels to this day and I tell them up front, I don’t know what I’d do without you. And that goes for all of them that I’ve been in touch with.

My stress levels have gone down, even though I’m retired. They alleviate my stress levels back practically to zero. I can’t imagine having to look after Mom on my own at this advanced age, especially with her now being on oxygen, or even in another care facility that may not have been as good as Emerald Gardens. We’re always in touch. My contact there is always in touch. If they need anything, I’m right there. I’m only 20 minutes from town.

It’s like a family relationship, really, is how I best can describe it. It’s like my extended family. They just take care of things on that level for me, and they know that I’m on their team. As I say to Mum as well, you’re on our team, Mum. We’re all a team working together. I’m a retired school teacher, so I know what teamwork is all about and how teamwork best moves things forward in a positive way.

I appreciate the staff including me on their team, because I’ve made myself available and made it known to them right away just what I’m about. It’s worked. It’s a huge relief. I always tell them, I don’t know what I’d do without you. I’m sure I repeat myself at least once a week if I run into Mom’s caregivers and the office workers. I think it’s quite a privilege, actually. When the office asked if I would do this, even though I’m not a natural Zoomer as such, I jumped at it. I thought, I’ll do whatever I can to promote Emerald Gardens and the staff.

Based on my experience, I’ve promoted Emerald Gardens to some of my friends who were wondering if they should take a look. I’ve even had some people go and talk to Mom earlier on and view the suite, and I’ve offered to take them on a personal tour. Mom actually, when she was able to take them on a personal tour, would probably take them to the exercise room, the social room, and the laundry rooms. She was proud to show it earlier on, about five years ago, when she was able. 

My colleagues, my friends in my age group, they’re wondering what to do as their elderly loved ones need more care, and I’m the first one to jump in there and say, well, I could even arrange a meeting for you, which I have done. So that’s how I promote Emerald Gardens personally.

I can only speak for my own experience. I just went there personally and went to the general office manager and asked if I could speak with them, and told them my situation. They interview you and find out about your family history and so forth, and it goes from there. It’s about the only advice I can give. It’s not even advice; it’s just the general procedures. But look around, of course.

Depending on where you live in the country, that has a lot to do with it. Being in a smaller center, we certainly have less to choose from than in a bigger city, obviously. I checked around first and then found out that due to Mom not being able to be subsidized, I didn’t have very much choice left. As it turns out, of course, it was the best choice, and it was new. I had no trepidation at all right from day one, just from the people I met initially and then ongoing from there.

It was the only one that wasn’t subsidized, basically. Mom didn’t qualify to be subsidized, so that was basically the only one available at that time.

Due to Mum’s age, she was 86 at the time and living on her own, and we’d lost Dad five years before that. I just saw a decline in her demeanor emotionally and socially. She only got out maybe once in the evening and went downstairs in the lobby of the apartment building she was in, but that wasn’t enough because I was working at the time and just couldn’t be there for her.

So that was my main trigger, I guess, my main reason for looking for accommodations for her where she’d still be independent but around people all the time because of her very social nature. It was more to keep my mother’s mental health up because physically she was fine, in good physical health, but it was mentally, socially, emotionally, that dimension that I was trying to take care of for her.

Physically, I knew it was a new place, and it has a condo side and a renter’s side, so you have the option of owning your own place or renting. She moved on December 14 of 2008, so it was all decorated up nicely for Christmas. It was very welcoming, very bright, and cheerful.

I liked the roominess of the suite, the one-bedroom suites, and we were toured through the other ones as well. They have various different types of suites, two-bedrooms, bachelor suites, and so forth. We liked the one-bedroom, and it was available, and I really liked the way it was set up. It generates four floors, and Mum’s on the third floor. The elevator’s there, and the general cleanliness and that sort of thing all stood out.

I just got a couple of friends together, and we moved her with no issue at all. We had a moving date, and they asked how they could help move it along smoothly. They were ready to help us if we needed the help, which we didn’t. We were independent and did it ourselves. But they did check in on us and check to see that everything was all right, and that’s all I could ask for. If I needed help, I’m sure I would have gotten it at that time for sure from Emerald Gardens.

It being Christmas time, or approaching Christmas time, Mom just really enjoyed the Christmas dinner. Another thing they hold in the summer is barbecues outside. They have notices in the elevators telling the residents what’s happening that week, whether it’s bingo or crib games or whatever. They keep the residents posted on various things that may be of interest to them. They have various denominations of church services coming in on Sundays. They have Bingo. They try to cover as much of the gamut as they can for entertaining the guests, the residents.

I honestly have to say I wouldn’t do anything differently.

I took Mom to have a look at it herself in November, which is the fair thing to do. After all, she was going to be the one living there. That was my initial way to introduce her to the building, and she seemed to take to it right away. I can’t say I would do anything differently because I’ve been so fortunate, so very fortunate, to have dealt with the people I did deal with right from the beginning and moving forward. I’ve had no unfortunate incidents with the staff or the residents. I know a few of them by name, and a lot of them have been older friends of mine that have moved in. I just can’t say enough about Emerald Gardens as it currently stands, and from when I moved Mom in back in 2008, I am one of those fortunate people.