Leamington residence celebrates history with Open Doors
Monday, June 6, 2005 -- Craig Anderson
The June 18 Open Doors initiative will be an opportunity for The Sun Parlor Home to publicly celebrate its 105-year history and continue to effect attitudinal change over the issues surrounding long term care for the elderly, says administrator Bill MacDonald.

“It’s for people to get in there and see that our province’s nursing homes aren’t dark, dingy places, to see that there are many positives that have occurred,” says Bill, who has worked at the Leamington facility for two years following a 25-year career in acute care at Hotel du Grace in Windsor.

“It shouldn’t be seen as threatening. If your family member should need the service, it’s there for you,” adds Bill.

The history of The Sun Parlor Home is a storied one. The Corporation of the County of Essex approved a home for the elderly in 1900 in a four storey Victorian-styled building in Leamington that became officially labelled the "House of Refuge and Industry." The male residents oversaw an industrial farm. In local vernacular the site was often referred to as the “Poor House.”

Sun Parlor is a far cry from that now. The home, which at its inception housed 35 residents, saw numerous renovations throughout the 1950’s and was finally demolished in 1961 to make way for a larger facility. The current Sun Parlor Home, located on Talbot St. in downtown Leamington, contains over 100,000 square feet and houses 206 residents.

Bill says that Sun Parlor’s legacy in the community, and the incredible support it has received from its County of Essex ownership, gives it a very reputable status.

“People in our community know that good work gets done here,” says Bill, adding that at the farmer’s market it is common to hear – in parochial terms – of how important the home is to the Leamington community and the surrounding area, including Windsor.

And although Sun Parlor enjoys high status in the County of Essex based on its long history within the community, Bill feels that general public awareness about the long term care industry is lacking.

“The industry is being asked to take on heavier and heavier residency loads, and hospitals are pushing more at us on a regular basis. The public needs to understand that, so that when they come into a home for the aged and they see some pretty frail, sick people they’ll know why,” says Bill.

To learn more about Open Doors, visit www.thecareguide.com/opendoors/