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 Viking.

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:

• Monthly Newsletter: We produce and distribute a monthly newsletter to family and residents to keep them informed
• Family Advisory Board & Residents Council: We tell family members and new residents about our Family Advisory Board and Residents Council and invite them to participate as a way to get more involved in our home.
• Family Information Nights: We host regular Family Information Nights where family members can meet staff, ask questions, raise concerns and give us feedback.
• Seasonal Tea: We host a Spring Tea and a Fall Tea where residents and family members can meet and socialize in a relaxed atmosphere.
• Annual Christmas Dinner: We host an annual sit-down Christmas Dinner for residents and family members complete with live entertainment.
• Annual Hallowe’en Party: At our annual Hallowe’en Party, staff and families bring their children into our home to trick or treat.
• Family Pet Friendly: Family pets are welcomed visitors to our home.
• Personalize Your Room: Residents are encouraged to bring some personal items and furnishings from home to make their rooms feel more familiar and confortable.
• Resident Introduction: Staff members work with family members and residents to learn as much as possible about each new resident’s past history so we can involve them in activities that would interest them and introduce them to other residents with whom they might have a lot in common.
• Family Participation: Family members are encouraged and welcomed to participate in activities with their loved one.
• Resident Care Plan: Family members, along with their loved one, participate actively in all aspects of the development of the resident’s Care Plan.
• Palliative Care Program: We have an excellent Palliative Care Program that provides caring, dedicated support to residents nearing the end of life as well as grieving family members.
• Palliative Care Lounge: We have a Palliative Care Lounge that can be curtained off so family members can have privacy with their loved one and stay overnight if they wish.
• Rememberance Forget-me-nots: When a resident has passed away, we give a forget-me-not to the family.
• Open Door Policy:We have an Open Door policy so that if a family member or resident wants to talk, we’re here to listen.

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:

• Resident Outings: We have regular outings for residents, weather permitting, and they can include everything from the annual Christmas Lights tour and annual Harvest tour to trips to Innisfree for delicious home made apple pie.
• Student Placement Opportunities: We provide placement opportunities for students in the HCA program at Norquest College. We also work with the local high school to provide work experience opportunities for high school students interested in a career in the health care industry.
• Student Awards: For over 20 years we have funded a bursary at our local high school to be given to a student going on to pursue a career in the medical/health care profession.
• Community Church Involvement:We have very close relationships with our 5 local churches and members are regularly in our home running programs for residents or volunteering their time to spend with residents.
• Remembrance Day: Every year, members of the local RCMP detachments come to our home in their formal red surge on Remembrance Day to honour our residents who are veterans and hand out poppies.
• Student Concerts: Every Spring and Christmas, the local elementary school comes to our home to perform a concert for residents.
• Shopping at Home: A local clothing store comes into our home so that residents who can’t leave the building can shop for clothes.
• Royal Purple Day: Every June we host a Royal Purple Day when the ladies service group comes to our home and serves homemade strawberry shortcake.
• Dance Club Performance: Once a year the local Dance Club performs for our residents.
• Nursing Week BBQ: Every year we partner with the local public health office and Hospital to host a barbeque during Nurse Week.
• Community Volunteers: Senior Managers volunteer their time and expertise in the community on committees such as the Interagency Group, a network of local health care and social services providers, the Family Violence Initiative, the Handi-Van Society and the Fire Department.