March 8, 2023
This plan builds on our strategic directions for 2019 to 2022. It includes supportive strategies that will help us recover from the pandemic and move us toward our longer-term dementia leadership goals.
Read MoreJanuary 30, 2023
LONDON, ON — McCormick Home and McCormick Dementia Services have been successfully accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) for a three-year period.
According to CARF, this decision “represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization and shows substantial conformance to CARF standards. An organization receiving a Three-Year Accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer-review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs and services are of the highest quality, measurable, and accountable.”
Read MoreOur residents’ quality of life is our top priority, and we work diligently every day to ensure their comfort, safety and wellbeing. We provide cooled air to our residents’ rooms using a tempered air system with enhanced cooling, which enables us to remain within the ministry’s temperature guidelines. We have been working with the Ministry of Long-Term Care and Infrastructure Ontario since April 2021 to review the question of our current air cooling system’s compliance with the ministry’s definition of air conditioning under the Fixing Long-Term Care Homes Act 2021, which came into effect on April 11, 2022. On August 19, 2022, McCormick Home received a compliance order from the Ministry of Long-Term Care relating to their decision. The board of the McCormick Care Group, which owns and operates McCormick Home, is currently reviewing its options on how best to respond to this order. Further information will be provided once this decision has been made.
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to significantly impact our services and operations this past year. While none of us could have foretold that this event would have lasted this long, I can say that we are deeply proud of each of our residents, clients, families, and particularly our staff members who have given of themselves so continuously and so intently without perceiving an end in sight. We are grateful for their dedication and extraordinary efforts to ensure a safe and healthy environment for those in our care, and particularly for their exceptional ability to continue maintaining the high quality standard of care for which we have become known.
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The Project-Be EPIC is an innovative program that trains personal support workers (PSWs) caring for persons living with dementia. Many PSWs are at mid-career having transitioned from other sectors, and few have received adequate dementia skills development training.
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Recently, McCormick Home began administering rapid antigen test testing for its staff, essential caregivers, support workers, and anyone entering the home. This new practice marks a departure from the standard COVID-19 test that has been regularly conducted at the home.
Read MoreIrish eyes were smiling Wednesday and so was Mother Nature as dozens of residents from McCormick Long-Term Care Home on Kains Road got outdoors to enjoy the sun, music and dancing on St. Patrick’s Day.
“Everything was nice, everything was nice,” said Margaret Tenhaaf, 96, who lives at McCormick.
Her son Harry Tenhaaf was with her for the festivities saying, “Being outside in the sunshine is great, they’ve been cooped up too long but for good reason, but we’re just happy today.”
Read MoreSometimes caring for others can take precedence over caring for our own well-being. On Learning for Love, Lessons for Life, Lisa Joworski learns from individuals who have lived experience being in a variety of caregiving roles and who have come to realize the importance of self-care. Join us as we learn because of our love for others but leave with a better understanding of how to live our own lives with meaning and resiliency.
Read MoreCarleton University’s Chantal Trudel, a professor in the School of Industrial Design and a team made up of Susan Braedley, Amy Hsu, Dennis Kao, Frank Knoefel, Sophie Orosz, Heidi Sveistrup, and Bruce Wallace—received nearly $40,000 from the Foundation for Health Environments Research in the United States to study the design of Canadian long-term care homes (LTC) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read MoreThe onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic struck nearly every aspect of life with a quick and stunning blow. Within the fallout, particularly for our more vulnerable senior population, lay a particularly impacted segment – those who are caring for someone with dementia at home.
Read MoreThis video takes you on a tour of our McCormick Day Program! Karen, our director, highlights changes that have been made to enhance infection prevention and control measures during COVID-19, while we continue to support clients living with dementia and their caregivers.
Read MoreNo hugs. No kisses. No problem.
Long-term care residents in London and across Ontario reunited with loved ones Thursday, coming face to face with visitors for the first time since the COVID-19 lockdown took hold in mid-March.
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For more than 15 years, Don Mahood has been trying to hold it together – for him and his wife, Mary Charlotte, who, now in her mid-70s, is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Read MoreHappily married for 38 years, Frances Kyle never saw it coming, but four years ago her husband Bob, 74, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Read MoreTaking care of a loved one diagnosed with dementia is hard enough.
Add a deadly pandemic to the mix and the closing of some support services for caregivers and the task becomes even more challenging.
Read MoreFalling is a concern for anyone — especially the elderly. The risk is even greater for people who have some form of dementia, particularly if they are assigned the additional task of learning how to use an assistive walking device. As Canada’s aging population increases, so too does the number of dementia diagnoses, and the meeting of these two trends creates a very real need to help people retain or regain their mobility
Read MoreWith the cooler temperatures upon us, we are faced with shorter days that are mostly spent indoors. Keeping energy levels up and maintaining a positive outlook will help you to not only survive, but thrive this winter.
Read MoreWhether communicated intentionally or not, all behaviours have meaning. Oftentimes, when a person’s standard methods of communicating become compromised in some way, messages are either conveyed in a more pronounced manner or they find a different path for their expression.
Read MoreCommunication in all its forms is at the centre of human interaction. Whether it be verbal, physical, emotional or otherwise, we send messages to others even if we don’t realize it. Ninety-three percent of how we communicate is non-verbal, including body language (55%), and para-verbal message, such as tone, pitch and volume (38%). Only seven percent of how we communicate is verbal.
Read MoreWhen we engage in activities that are meaningful to us, we experience an enhanced sense of identity, wellbeing and contentment. The same holds true for those who have been diagnosed with dementia. While dementia can impact a person’s physical dexterity and cognitive ability, the same innate sense of dignity and satisfaction can still be derived from taking part in pastimes that have some meaning or connection to who they were before their diagnosis.
Read MoreDelivering proper care to thousands living with dementia means personal-support workers must understand more than patients’ medical histories – they need to know the people behind them. Ongoing research from Health Studies professor Marie Savundranayagam hopes to provide one avenue toward that goal.
Read MoreWe welcome this opportunity to better support our invaluable Personal Support Workers through the Be EPIC: Dementia Training for Mid-Career Workers program. Special thanks to Marie Savundranayagam, Faculty of Health Sciences Professor at Western University, and all our colleagues involved in this important program.
Read MoreFor many people, a loved one’s dementia diagnosis not only means a loss of shared memories, but also a decline in the experience of personal, meaningful conversation. At its most fundamental level, conversation brings people together and helps establish and develop relationships. A research study conducted by Western University and McCormick Dementia Research looked at how to preserve those relationships by connecting in a shared experience, and more specifically, enhancing the quality of conversation by accessing and sharing family photos using iPad technology.
Read MoreImagine you’re a third-year college student in an interior design program and you’ve just completed six weeks of observing how long-term care residents with dementia interact with their living space. Now you find yourself presenting your recommendations to the architect who actually designed the facility and the CEO who oversaw the build.
Read MoreRemember visiting a farm or zoo as a child? Think of the sounds, smells, sights and feel of the experience – being fascinated at watching the animals and perhaps being lucky enough to get a nickel from your mom or dad to buy some pellets from the modified bubble gum machine to feed your furry friends.
Read MoreThree years ago, Jo and his wife Robin shared their story: he had early-onset Alzheimer’s. Now, as it continues its swift, relentless assault on Jo, Robin navigates the unthinkable
Read MoreIt’s not quite art therapy, nor is it art education.
It’s a program that’s somewhere in between and is giving individuals with dementia the ability to work alongside artists as co-creators of drama, dance, music and visual art.
Read MoreMcCormick Care Group Annual Report for 2017-2018 Now Available
Read MoreThis in-depth series covers the many aspects involved in managing Alzheimer disease, particularly from the perspectives of research, caregiving, partnerships and impacts to family and friends.
Read MoreThe McCormick Care Foundation presents the story of palliative care at McCormick Home
The McCormick Care Foundation has released a powerful video on the importance of quality palliative care and shares the personal stories of McCormick Home family members who have guided their loved ones along their final journey. The Last Address is the beginning of an important conversation about end-of-life care.
Watch VideoWorks from McCormick Day Program participants are displayed at joint art show with Fanshawe College
“Perfection in Perspective” helped fundraise for the art therapy program that McCormick Dementia Services offers to people living with dementia. Three clients from the McCormick Day Program were paired up with three different artists through London Arts Council to create their own masterpieces to showcase at the event that was organized by students in the Fanshawe College Recreation and Leisure Services Program in partnership with the McCormick Care Foundation.
Watch VideoMarie Savundranayagam wants to dispel the notion that ‘person-centered care’ is merely a patient-focused approach. In health-care settings, she stressed, both the patient and their caregiver must figure into the equation.
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Caregiving doesn’t necessarily stop when your spouse goes to live in a long-term care home. It just looks a little different, according to Joanne Nancekivell, a social worker at McCormick Home. She leads a support group for people whose spouses live in long-term care homes in London, Ontario.
Family caregivers often find themselves in situations where they’re speaking for a relative with dementia. Sometimes this is appropriate, other times it’s not. Knowing the difference isn’t always easy.
Read MoreWhile Rita Clarke may be retired, her days aren’t filled with rest and relaxation. Ever since her husband Peter’s dementia diagnosis five years ago, she’s taken on a much more demanding role – the role of a caregiver.
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It’s no secret that Canada’s population is aging. According to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, almost one million people will be diagnosed with dementia in the next 15 years. Along with this will come a growing demand for caregivers to help those with dementia perform their daily tasks, and this responsibly often falls on family and friends.
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We at McCormick Home share in the community’s shock and grief at the recent media coverage of the Elizabeth Wettlaufer case. It is truly a tragedy that such terrible crimes could happen in long-term care, where safety, dignity and quality of life are the priority of the many valued staff members working in this sector.
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It seems counterintuitive that the use of a mobility aid, such as a cane or a walker, can actually increase the risk of falls in older adults. Yet in individuals with dementia, that’s exactly the case. In fact, people with dementia are three times more likely to suffer a fall when using a mobility aid versus not using one at all.
Monica Fleck
Director of Communication, McCormick Care Group
2022 Kains Road London, ON N6K 0A8
Phone: 519-432-2648 ext. 2405
Fax: 519-472-1486
Email: mfleck@mccormickcare.ca
