This is what person-centred care looks like. In long-term care homes across Ontario, care teams are doing exactly this every day. They meet residents where they are, care for the whole person beyond medical needs, and understand that creative engagement and connection are essential to well-being.
Cooksville Care Centre earned OLTCA’s Leading with Heart Recognition: an award that honours the diverse ways OLTCA members make a difference, create moments of connection across communities, and inspire everyday acts of kindness and compassion, for bringing this program to life.
“I’m grateful for the beauty you’ve created,” Corinne says.
Kimberley Smith, founder of Young at Heart Painting, has watched this unfold across Ontario’s long-term care homes. “We’re seeing residents smile more, open up, and create artwork they never thought possible. This is meaningful engagement at work,” she says.
This is what long-term care is: both care and home.
Across Ontario, more than 50 long-term care communities have chosen to bring creative programming into their homes. Over 14,000 seniors have engaged in Young at Heart’s programs. This is how long-term care homes prioritize creative engagement as essential to wellbeing, not as an extra, but as core care.
Cooksville Care Centre is one of many homes across Ontario choosing to invest in moments like these.
Learn more about Young at Heart Painting at youngatheartpainting.com
