Senior support program expands to Memramcook, N.B.

New Brunswick is expanding its Nursing Home Without Walls program.

A program in New Brunswick that offers support services to seniors has expanded to a nursing home in Memramcook.

Foyer Saint-Thomas de la vallée de Memramcook officially joined the Nursing Home Without Walls program, which offers tailored services to each community it serves.

Some services may include:

• in-person social visits
• help in accessing programs and services
• activities designed to foster social connections

“By continuing to innovate and implement solutions adapted to the realities of our aging population, we are strengthening intergenerational ties and ensuring that every senior can age with dignity and respect,” said Lyne Chantal Boudreau, minister responsible for seniors, in a news release.

“We are thrilled to see this model expanding throughout New Brunswick and gaining national recognition.”

Memramcook Mayor Maxime Bourgeois says, if seniors don’t have family members in the area to look out for them, there can sometime be a disconnect with the community.

“We don’t know exactly what they need, so with this, it’s going to help us have a direct contact with them constantly and to make sure they have what they need to stay in their home as long as possible,” he said.

“I find it’s very sad when I see seniors are downsizing and are obligated to go to the Moncton or Dieppe area. I think it’s important to keep that social tissue together because we are a very close-knit community. So, for us, it’s very important to have our seniors stay in our community.”

At Foyer Saint-Thomas de la vallée de Memramcook, the program includes:

• in-person social visits
• transportation
• access to information and support services
• housekeeping such as cleaning, gardening and snow removal
• meal delivery

Program coordinator Chantal Comeau says Nursing Home Without Walls can also provide relief to family members, take people on drives or facilitate their hobbies.

“Basically, for the community, it’s think about what you would like to do with a family member and we are there to step in,” said Comeau.

Suzanne Dupuis-Blanchard, director of the Université de Moncton’s Research Centre on Aging, says she kept hearing about a problem accessing services.

“It was all around home maintenance, so inside or outside the home, cleaning, and also around transportation, preparation around meals and for some it was also about personal hygiene and not feeling safe using the tub or shower in their home anymore,” said Dupuis-Blanchard.

“I am delighted that seniors and their families in the Memramcook area can benefit from a program that has been proven to support aging at home through productive collaboration.”

The province says this is the 27th site of the Nursing Home Without Walls program in New Brunswick.

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.