Foundation-funded excursion plan gets islanders out and about on bus….

Island’s new transit bus used for valued outings

BY PAT BURKETTE

Driftwood Contributor

YOUNG @ HEART supplement March 18th, 2009

For people who call the Lady Minto Hospital Extended Care Unit (ECU) home, a new Excursion Day Program is a long-awaited ticket to ride.

The program, sponsored by the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation, offers ECU residents monthly outings around Salt Spring on Salt Spring Island Transit.

ECU activities co-ordinator Jennifer Ritson and a volunteer aide travel on the bus with four to six residents at a time. The bus, which is equipped with a lift, can accommodate four wheelchairs per trip.

“I’m the tour director,” says Ritson. “We have people with a lot of visual and hearing impairments, so you’re helping explain what’s going on.”

Ritson, whose mother Sue Mouat is a well-known local historian, put her own knowledge of the island to good use during the program’s initial trip to Ruckle Park.

“As we went along, we talked about how all the roads were named, and the history of the island. Two of the residents I took on that outing weren’t from here. They came to the island because their families are here. It was their first chance to see the island.”

The sightseers were most surprised to learn that Rock Crusher Corner, near the junction of Cusheon Lake Road and Fulford-Ganges Road, wasn’t named for vehicle accidents.

“Historically, there was a rock crusher there to crush the shale to make th road,” explains Ritson.

Ritson says ECU resident currently range in age from 57 to 98 and are at a stage in life when they need a helping hand.

“In Extended Care, we have people who need extensive help with activities of daily living. They may need help standing up, or help with feeding. Often they’re coping with a debilitating disease, as opposed to dementia. They do very well at games like Scrabble and Trivia.”

Ritson also regularly coordinates three Bs of activity for the residents – bowling, bingo and baking.

New activities are always on the agenda as well.

“We’re trying to bring as many experiences as we can for the residents here,” says Lena McMann, who heads up Lady Minto’s rehabilitation department, “because it’s not an institution, it’s their home.”

But until the Excursion Day Program was initiated in late 2008, many ECU residents weren’t able to actually “get out of the house” to savour the new experiences and different vistas that can bring a fresh lease on life. Ritson says excursions are especially desirable in the fall and winter months, when residents can’t get outside to sit in the Lady Minto’s garden area. Even when the weather is good, the hospital’s location can also create difficulties for close-by outings for ECU residents in wheelchairs.

“We’re on a hill, and it can be tough for friends and family to take people in wheelchairs out for a walk or lunch.”

Ritson, who graduated from Malaspina university’s Activities Assistant programs, has studied other excursion programs and wants to build itineraries from good ideas she’s found, such as planning a trip around a special interest or food. Last week residents enjoyed a spring lunch at the Harbour House.

McMann says preparing for excursion days is a team effort. She co-ordinates equipment for the day and, together with hospital staff, helps get residents ready for travel. Ritson has no problem getting volunteers to assist on the bus.

“People came to me and asked to work on the bus,” she says.

“Likewise, Salt Spring Island Transit has helped identify times when the bus can be used by the excursion program. “Their low usage times are the times when we want to use the bus,” says Ritson, who may have the chance to organize trips on Sundays when the bus doesn’t provide public transit.

Thanks to generous donors, the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation has budgeted $450 a month for the Excursion Day Program.

“We’d been interested in doing something like this for a couple of years, especially after the Lions Club excursion program got disconnected,” says Foundation President Gil Schultz, who sees an increasing demand for the program in coming years.

“Vancouver Island Health Authority says Salt Spring and the Gulf Island has the oldest population in the Victoria area, and I think that aging population will increase in times to come.”