Category Archives: Our Stories

It was a spook-takular Hallowee’n for Individuals Care supports. Costumes were worn, pumpkins carved and candy devoured.

Two Individuals in Peace River enjoyed designing the pictures for their jack-o-lanterns and making their creations glow from the light of a cellphone.  A supper treat of pizza and wings was had and a dance party soon followed with breaks to take some seriously scarey pictures. The ghostly evening ended with a spine-tingling movie.

In the County of Grande Prairie, Individuals donned their spookiest costumes and enjoyed an afternoon of spooky crafts, ghoulish treats and bewitching BINGO.

Ghosts and goblins were seen in Stone Brook as well as residents celebrated with a spookalicious party. There were also a few Trick-or-Treaters that came looking for candy and residents on the balcony lowered treats in a bucket to the masked youngsters waiting below.

This Memorable Moment comes to us from Peace River where an Individual Care supports continues to build their independence skills.

One way they are doing that is by preparing meals for themselves as well as their housemates on their assigned cooking/baking day. Not only do they prepare the meal, they add their artistic flare when carefully placing the vegetables on each plate.

The meals are enjoyed by all, both visually and physically and the Individual looks forward to putting together healthy meals every week.

This Memorable Moment(s) comes to us from Stone Brook.

Easter celebrations looked a little different this year as we could not share the holiday with family and friends but thanks to some CAREing employees, Easter was enjoyed at the facility.

There was still the traditional hunt for Easter eggs.

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Thank you to a Team Care member and her family for decorating the eggs for Individuals to find! There were smiles a plenty when eggs were spotted hiding throughout the cottages.

Some residents took part in holiday baking and craft making as well.

We look forward to spending the holiday with friends and family next year!

An Individual’s dream of becoming a princess came true on her birthday.

Earlier last month Team Care at Stone Brook came together to make this dream a reality. The recreation room was decorated in her favorite colors purple, pink and red; streamers, balloons, disco balls, flowers, and “Happy Birthday” Banners.

Staff that had grad dresses and princess attire became princesses themselves and Individuals attending the party also came dressed for the occasion.

The birthday girl was also wearing a beautiful tan gown decorated with rhinestones, donated to Stone Brook a few years ago.

When she entered the party that was attended by over a dozen people, she was handed a rose from each Team Care member.

Her favourite supper was prepared – hotdogs, different kinds of salads, chips and snacks and of course there was a birthday cake fit for a princess! 

Everyone had an awesome time and the birthday girl loved being a princess for her special day.

This Memorable Moment comes from an Individual Care has been supporting for a few years.

This Individual has a witty personality and often cracks a joke or two. One afternoon they were talking with their Support Worker about dreams, in particular bad ones.

The Individual said they had a nightmare. In it they had won a million dollars. Surprised, the Support Worker asked why that was a nightmare, isn’t winning a million dollars what people dream of?

The Individual replied, with a straight face, “it was a bad dream because I woke up and didn’t have a million dollars!”

Now you can’t argue with that logic! 

Care is embarking on a new adventure, creating a Sensory Experience Room. 

Care’s first Sensory Experience Room is located in Grimshaw at Stone Brook, a DSL facility, with the goal of opening it to the community in the future.

A sensory room is a therapeutic space that’s typically furnished with a variety of interactive equipment that provides the individual with an engaging and personalized sensory experience. From equipment that provides deep pressure, like the steam roller, to projected lights and sounds. Each person that enters the room chooses how they’d like to interact with that environment.

The benefits are significant for individuals with ASD and sensory processing difficulties and include: improved social interactions,  reduced perseveration (i.e., repetitive stereotypical movements), reduced somatosensory disturbances (i.e., frequent and repeated movements or rocking),  decreased mood disturbances (i.e., over-reactivity, lack of responsiveness), and greater ability to focus.

Similar benefits are proving valuable for those with memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s, offering a safe place to stimulate or relax the brain and explore.

Needless to say, we’re excited! Fingers crossed we’ll be able to bring a Care Sensory Experience Room to Grande Prairie next!

• Thank you to Care’s Behaviour Specialist for contributing to the article
  

We are introducing a new feature as a way for the public to get a better understanding of what Care does and how we support Individuals with complex needs. Most of these Memorable Moments will be written in a way as to NOT identify the Individual(s) and support workers involved due to confidentiality.

This first Memorable Moment started as a regular interaction between an Individual and Support Worker.

The nonverbal Individual was looking out a window in their home when the SW asked what they saw/were looking at. “A rabbit? A bird?” After several guesses with no response, the SW thought of the most out of ordinary animal “An alligator?” The Individual turned to the SW in shock and perfectly repeated ”alligator”. Not only repeated the word, but said it in a strong loud voice, loud enough for fellow housemates and SWs to hear! 

Sometimes thinking out of the box is where you will find the greatest rewards. Truly a Memorable Moment we want to celebrate! 

During this Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, we would like to share with you a bit about the Individuals we support.

Care supports approximately 25 Individuals diagnosed with Dementia. A few of those Individuals have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Care’s Designated Supportive Living facility in Grimshaw, Stone Brook, provides DLS3, DSL4 and DSL4D care. 

What does that mean?
DSL4D supports are for Individuals “with moderate to severe dementia, who may have a high risk of wandering and unpredictable behaviours but who are not a safety risk to themselves or others.” (AlbertaHealthServices.ca)

Research has shown that Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of Dementia.

Stone Brook has 76 supportive living suites within six furnished cottages: Poppy Lane, Wilcox, Memory Lane, Mackenzie Cottage, Heritage Way and Lac Cardinal Cottage. 

Poppy Lane is a locked unit and resident’s room are equipped with door alarms to ensure the safety of the Individuals.

This past fall, Stone Brook developed a Dementia Awareness campaign, creating posters explaining behaviours visitors might see when visiting the facility. 

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Learning about other people’s journey helps us come together as a community and care for those in need.

Care would like you to meet Susie.

Susie is a resident of Stone Brook in Grimshaw and always has a smile to share with fellow residents, visitors and staff.

Susie is ready to lend a hand and help with any task, activity or event. You can see her sitting at the front desk at Stone Brook, offering warm greetings to all.  She is also in charge of sorting mail and feeding the resident cats and fish.

When Susie isn’t working, she likes to go for walks as well as shopping in town.

Her favourite meal is hamburger and fries and her favourite cat at Stone Brook is Smoky.

Thank-you Susie for sharing a bit about yourself with everyone!

This is Victoria’s story, our Communication Coordinator

Hi! My name is Victoria Kingston and I have been providing one-liners and clever quips to the general public since the 4th Grade when Mrs. McCaig was forced to add “sarcasm” to her list of prohibited classroom activities on the blackboard.

Initially aspiring to become a world-renowned chemist, I switched programs to marketing and communications after I realized I really hated math and Bunsen burners.

I started working for ASLS in November 2017. Up until then, I had only ever worked in the commercial sector. The biggest change I experienced working for a non-profit was a shift in purpose.

In previous positions, the main motivation behind marketing campaigns, projects, and deliverables were to drive revenue. At ASLS, the purpose behind my work is to generate awareness, create documents and templates that make my colleagues work easier, broadcast victories and, above all, improve the quality of life of some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

My work environment is one of cooperation, compassion, and growth.

Although I was born in Grande Prairie, I only recently relocated here a couple of years ago. I suppose you could say I’m like salmon and have returned to my spawning grounds. I rent an acreage from my aunt just outside of Sexsmith where I live with my boyfriend, Brandon. Our two rescue dogs, Yoshi and Zelda, love the space and every day is an adventure in identifying what they drop on my doorstep.

Yoshi and Zelda

When I am not typing, I like to sew teddy bears by hand. My grandma taught me how to do it and it’s a tradition I have carried on. Recently, I started a small enterprise where I turn shirts and blankets with sentimental value into teddy bears.