It's good news for seniors in Prince George.
Emmaus House, a supportive care home for seniors, is offering a suite for a couple.
Most often in the care home arena, seniors are unwillingly to be separated from their spouses when they have to go into any kind of facility.
Emmaus House had other ideas and when one tenant moved to a private room, the non-profit society decided to renovate the private apartment to meet the needs of a couple who required some help but still can live independently.
Emmaus House staff offers full meals, house keeping and laundry services, so the senior tenants can simply enjoy their lives. Right now there are nine in the facility with a family atmosphere, and when a couple moves in, that will make 11, said Noella Miller, house manager or as she said, chief cook and bottle washer.
Emmaus House was established on Feb. 1, 2002, at 6373 Hillcrest Place. The house was leased from the Bowler family, and senior member of the family, Patricia Bowler, stayed on. When the home was purchased in 2004, Patricia continued to live in the home and now, at 99 years old, she gave up her private suite because there are four stairs to reach it that she can no longer navigate safely. She happily lives in a private room where no stair climbing is required.
"The apartment was gutted and it was revised to be a two-person suite, as opposed to a single person suite," said Miller, who has worked at the house since its inception. "There are so many places that will not take a couple. If the one person becomes impaired in some way, they have room for the one. So then couples are separated instead of being able to stay together. We felt that in their declining years, it was important that they should remain together until one passes away or one has to go into nursing care."
If you know your Bible, Miller said, Emmaus was a place that people used to go soak their bodies in warm healing springs.
"So we call it Emmaus House because we want it to be a place where seniors can feel they are whole," said Miller. "We operate as a family unit . I am like the mom and I just have a great big family and they all happen to be older than me."
It's a real comfort for families, knowing their loved ones are safe.
"The comments we get are 'mom's so happy here', 'dad's so happy here'," said Miller. "So the families can relax knowing that their senior parent is being well taken care of and that's what we like to do."
For more information call 250-964-1175 or visit www.emmaushouse.ca.
