Interview with The Briton House family member, Margaret Rousseau

She [has been] so comfortable. The staff there welcomed her… with open arms. They were so happy to have her... After about three or four weeks, things turned round, and she is enjoying her new area. She's having a good time. She loves her room, she loves the food, she loves the staff. She is very happy to be there.

The food is very important. My mom loves her meal time, and she especially enjoys fish, so they clued in on that. So whenever there's fish on the menu, they make sure that she does have fish. So this is great for her… It gives [her] something to look forward to, the fact that the food is so good… She's being well fed. At the end [of living at a condo], maybe she wasn't looking after herself as much. 

One of the main reasons we chose the Briton House was because of all the activities. So she [goes] down to the exercise room… to the hymn singing… to concerts and the movie night. 

The atrium is a fabulous indoor garden area, one of the big advantages of the Briton House. When it's too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer, they can go down there and enjoy it… I actually even think it helps to keep the residents healthy because you've got all the plants down there… It's a very good aspect of it.

When they [have] concerts, some of the performers were from the Toronto Symphony, so they had some wonderful performers there, and they had evenings of song as well. My mom [is] very enthusiastic about all that. She would… meet the performers after. She really enjoyed that.

The layout is simple… She felt she could go out of her suite door and down a few doors, and there was the elevator. She didn't want to have to turn corners or anything. She just straight down and there it was… That was really important for her because it wasn't confusing.

The staff are very nice. I have to say they're very kind to her, very caring, and I think they played a big role… They’re friendly. They're just so nice to other residents as well.

She was having quite a few falls [and] she couldn't look after herself anymore…There is constant care there, so we’re less worried about her falling. Even if she does fall, it won't be as serious because there is somebody right on site to help her and see if it's just something that can be bandaged up... She has fallen a couple of times since, but nothing major.

She really enjoys the social aspect… She's a very sociable person. She loves just being with other people and reminiscing or just talking about anything. It’s very important.

For us, it's just knowing that she's somewhere safe. It's a huge relief for us because she fell six times before she went in there… some of them were serious. That's a big aspect for us… the safety, the care, being looked after.

We changed her doctor to the doctor at The Briton House. We know that she has immediate care if she needs it.

There is this nice family feel about it… it's a family run business. That comes out that there is maybe a more close relationship with the staff. My mom really [got] to know the servers in the cafeteria…  It’s a nice relationship. It's not everywhere that you find that.

The location is very handy… There is underground parking… which, in the middle of the city, is very important. They've just built a Shopper’s right next door. So that's very handy. There's a florist two blocks away. It's just close to things that matter for the residents as well.

The Briton House does provide assistance [with moving]... With the help of the staff at the Briton House, [they got] the pictures put up and made sure that things were in the right place… We could count on them to do [that] or to move things to make sure the TV was set up with the channels she liked… People there made sure that she was set up with what she needed.

We're very satisfied with the way it went… She's so happy… She said to me one day, ‘How did you find such a lovely place for me?’ That's nice to hear.