Our Difference

We understand the decision to transition to long-term care is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. We want to ensure your decision is a positive one. Below are some of our home’s points of difference:

The calendar is always full. You can be as active as you like.

For some people, the key to living better is filling every day with meaningful activities that bring people together, build bonds and create shared experiences.

Whether it’s tapping the power of music to engage a resident with dementia, attending worship services, participating in exercise classes, or reminiscing with a friendly volunteer, there’s always something going on at Extendicare Kirkland Lake.

Here, residents lead active and engaged lives.

This is home. Your home.

We want you to feel at home. We’ll support you in becoming an active and engaged member of your new community and enjoy life to the best of your ability.

We have a welcoming and inclusive environment.

Not only do we work very hard to integrate residents into our community and feel at home, we’re also committed to making families feel at home here too. The following are some of the measures we take to help our residents settle in and also help family members feel comfortable and get involved:

• On their first day new residents and their family members are met and given a tour of our home by a “guardian angel”, a staff member assigned to be their single point of contact for introductions to other staff, questions, concerns and general information.
• Upon arrival, new residents and family members meet their Primary Caregiver to immediately begin establishing a relationship of trust.
• We host a monthly Welcome Tea for residents and family members where they can meet other residents and family members as well as staff and managers in a more relaxed setting.
• Because we are a relatively small home in a tight knit community, we ask new residents if they know anyone here already and try to create a buddy system with residents they do know.
• Because we are also a bilingual community, we try to pair French-speaking residents together and English-speaking residents together in rooms and at meal times.
• We host an annual Christmas Lunch to which each resident can invite 2 family members to attend.
• Family members can book our private dining room in advance to prepare a meal and dine alone with their loved one or even have a private barbecue on the patio.
• Family members are encouraged and welcomed to participate in activities with their loved one.
• Family members, along with their loved one, participate actively in all aspects of the development of the resident’s Care Plan.

We are always available to listen when a family member wants to talk. Plus, our social worker is always available to talk privately about coping with the stress and emotions of caregiving.

We connect you to the community.

Maintaining strong connections to others is essential to keeping people active and involved.

Getting you out into the community and bringing the community into our home is important to your quality of life. Here are some of the ways in which the residents and staff get involved with the community, and how the community connects with us:

• Weekly Outings: Including shopping excursions, lunch, movies, trips to the Hockey Heritage North museum and more.
• Countryside Tour: In the fall, we organize a tour out into the countryside to enjoy the breathtaking colours of autumn.
• Lunch Lakeside: Every summer a local restaurant owner invites our residents to enjoy a free lunch at his place on Lake Kenogami. By summer’s end all our residents have had their turn and he provides all transportation free of charge.
• Christmas Lights Tour: We organize a Christmas Lights tour for residents during the holiday season.
• Homecoming Week: Annually, we host our Homecoming Week barbecue for residents and families to enjoy a day filled with live entertainment, face painting carnival games and more.
• Jingle Bell Tea and Bazaar: Every Christmas, our Family Council invites vendors from the community and residents sell their own crafts, baked goods and preserves. There is a raffle and funds are used to buy gifts for our residents.
• Beaver Band First Nation: At Christmas, the Beaver Band First Nation comes into our home to serve a tea and a banic (a traditional native dessert) to our residents and family members.
• Korean Dance Performance: Every summer the Korean Presbyterian Church comes to perform traditional Korean dances for our residents.
• Winter Carnival: Residents, their families and the community enjoy unique versions of activities such as ice fishing and snowball throwing.
• Student Placements: We provide placement opportunities for students in the RN, RPN and PSW at Northern College as well as opportunities for local high school students to earn their 40 community service credit.
• Student Bursary Award: We sponsor a bursary at the local high school for a student who is pursuing studies in health care.
• Local Committee Involvement: Our managers participate on local committees such as the Elder Abuse Task Force and the Timiskaming Palliative Care Network.
• Meeting Spaces: We provide meeting space free of charge and host events for local chapters of the Alzheimers Society and other groups involved in mental health and health care issues.
• Open Door Day: Seniors in our community are invited to come, ask questions, tour our home and see other residents. We provide transportation and lunch free of charge