Beth South says Park Lane Terrace has now incorporated a number of top-notch ideas, including a family suite, a resident/family laundry area, a family dining room and a chapel.

An additional 72 beds were added with the expansion, to what was once a 60-bed facility. Now, the total number of beds available at Park Lane are 132. Three new pod-shaped, residential areas were completed and a number of features residents and family members have been enjoying, says South.

The family suite, for instance, reflects the facility's focus on complex/palliative care. "It's like a large bedroom with an adjoining full bathroom," says South, which allows a family member to be near their loved one.

Across the hall from this suite is the resident/family laundry area, where families can do their loved one's laundry on the premises with a residential-style washer and dryer set, as opposed to the larger industrial machines. South says some family members insist on doing their own laundry for their relative; this service gives them the opportunity to do so without leaving the premises.

South says the new chapel is a church in every sense of the word, a place where even baptisms can be held, allowing grandparents who live at the facility to witness this family ceremony. "It's for any type of spiritual programming," says the administrator.

A 'day-away centre' is also in the plans to be built, which is a satellite to the nursing home, according to South. "It's for people in the community with dementia who might not yet be ready to live in a long-term care environment," she says.

The facility is waiting for funding for the centre from the Ministry of Health to make it possible. South says she is confident the money will eventually come from the government because a similar model already exists in the community. "There is a real demand for these services, and there's a precedent here," says South.

Park Lane Terrace is one of six APANS long-term care facilities, with its head office in London, Ontario. Paris is a small community of 9,500 a half hour south-west of Hamilton.