Nithview Family Council

Nithview - New Hamburg

• Emplacement: New Hamburg, ON
• RLISS: Waterloo Wellington

Established since 2007, the Nithview Family Council has a core group of approximately 15 and an email list that keeps up to 60 family members up to date with our group. We meet monthly (except for July/Aug/Dec). We have a good relationship with our home's leadership which is a good home but we are working toward it being great. We are very open about care concerns and also promote the "fun factor" in our home by hosting ice cream cafes on all 3 floors of ltc on the holidays of long weekends which are open to residents, visitors and staff. We have an annual yard sale as our only source of income. We purchase items like bird feeders (and fill them ongoing), fish tanks, large screen tv's for lounges and recently added seating to our homes patio. We host an "almost" monthly Family Night, arranging entertainment and set up in pub style fashion so residents can visit with their family around a table during the entertainment. Family bring their own beverages and snacks. We host an "almost" monthly Family Hymn Sing on a Sunday night and encourage family to come and sing the old tyme hymns with their loved ones. We were instrumental in setting up the U of W mobile eye care clinic for Nithview. We are working on bringing "Cracked" to our Nithview community. We are very involved but like most Family Council's feel somewhat stressed "body wise" as we need more hands to make the work lighter for those of us involved. Our mission statement is "to be advocates for the residents of Nithview Long Term Care and a support group for their families and friends." We live this. We have created a "chat" email group with other FC groups in our LHIN to bounce ideas off of which has been helpful.