Donors help create spa-like experience for Foyer Lacombe residents

Natural light pours into the room, highlighting a large, luxurious jet tub with a lift. An electric fireplace mounted on a nearby wall and plants add to the soothing atmosphere. Think it’s a room at a spa? That was the idea.

Hospice and long-term care residents at Foyer Lacombe in St. Albert are enjoying their renovated tub room that’s often referred to as the spa. “I go in there twice a week, and I really like it,” says Dorothy, a 93-year-old resident, who adds that she likes the warmth and feel of the space.

“When you walk into the room, you get a spa feeling,” says Glenda.

“It’s very nice for a resident. It’s calming. It’s relaxing.”

It’s a welcoming space, says Kristy Shields, a licensed practical nurse.

“It’s such a nice comfortable place to be in,” says Kristy.

Covenant Foundation supported the new tub room at Foyer Lacombe. Part of this renovation included $81,000 in funding through the foundation by the St. Albert Sturgeon Hospice Association (SASHA) along with St. Albert Kinsmen, T8N100Men and Royal Canadian Legion Branch 271.

“We really want people to live life fully to the end,”

says SASHA president Johanna Buisman, a retired RN."

“Having this room is a way to offer care, comfort and peace. It’s meant to make a person feel really good and special.” That extra comfort is appreciated by hospice and long-term residents, says Glenda.

“For those in hospice care—these are people in their last days of life—whatever soothing comfort we can offer them, that’s what we want to do,” she says. “For our long-term residents, it’s wonderful to be able to have that experience. It’s a treat.”

As published in Covenant Health’s The Vital Beat, December 2, 2019, written by Shelley Decker

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