Mennonite Home makes colourful upgrades for special residents

By Mark Ribble

LEAMINGTON — About 70 residents with dementia are benefiting from a recent donation to the Leamington Mennonite Home.

The George C. Hunt Foundation recently made a donation of $65,000 to the Mennonite Home to help the home update their residents’ doors and other areas around the building.

The donation has allowed the Mennonite Home to design colourful vinyl wraps for each individual resident’s door, with the goal of making their time there more enjoyable and familiar.

“The residents love them,” said Mennonite Home Chief Financial Officer, Irene Collard. “They all had a say in picking their colours.”

The vinyl wrap being installed on one of the Mennonite Home doors.

Photos submitted

Collard says that the idea of wrapping the doors creates a more nostalgic feeling and makes the home more dementia-friendly by easing anxiety.

“It’s less institutional and more like home for them,” she adds.

The just-completed door wrap project has brightened up the hallways of the Mennonite Home for residents, caregivers and employees.

In addition to wrapping the 70 resident doors, plans are underway to install interactive murals in the areas of the tuck shop and activity rooms, as well as the elevator doors.

A couple of the finished doors.

“The elevator doors will be done with the look of large bookshelves,” says Collard, noting that the bookshelf look will ease exit attempts.

More wraps will be done on tub-room doors and palliative care rooms.

For Collard and the staff, it makes a nice colourful addition to the care they provide to their residents and enhances the quality of life for everyone.