Carol Gardam, chair of the Princess Court Family Council (PCFC) for the past 3 years, spoke to the club on how the organization advocates for residents to improve their quality of life and while promoting Princess Court and the Family Council within Dryden.
Gardam’s goal as chair has been to get Princess Court to look more like a home from which the residents had come rather than an institution.
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Carol’s first success was to get bulletin boards for all floors where get DHS high school students can display their artwork.
In the Fall of 2019 PCFC partnered with the Canadian Mental Health Association to create “the door wrap project”. The objective of the project is to put a wrap of the resident’s choice on their door. This way each door can be a different color and different style which it is hoped will assist each resident to remember their own door.
Some family members as well as local businesses have sponsored doors and to date, 65 of 90 doors are now covered. Boreal Signs is doing the signs for the doors. Cost for the door wraps are $300. This also includes an extra kick plate to prevent damage to the door wrap.
The PC Family Co. also hope to do the same for the elevator and exit doors.
All funds donated are processed through the Dryden Extended Care Organization or DECO for short.
Carol had planned an open house for this month so the public could view the improvements but this had to be put on hold due to COVID-19 safety procedures
The Princess Court Family Council’s next project to create a “Cycling without Age” chapter. Begun in Scotland, its goal is to purchase a tricycle style bike (trishaw) where a volunteer capable of would be able to take seniors out for a bike ride. The project is in its infancy but may look to Rotary for support in the future.