PSWs Victoria Beck, left, and Jennifer Cami with the ECU's last resident Robyn Keary.
The collection of fishing rods standing in the corner of Robyn Keary’s room in the Welland Hospital’s Extended Care Unit (ECU) had dwindled to one in the weeks leading up to its closure in September.
When he left, the avid hunter and angler didn't take his last trusted partner in storybook catches with him. Instead, Keary gifted the rod to one of the personal support workers he had gotten to know during the year he lived at the ECU.
Two items Keary didn't leave behind, however, were a prize pickerel and smallmouth bass, both the size of watering-hole lore, mounted on the wall in his room. They had become conversation pieces and he hoped they would help spark new connections in his new home.
“There’s anxiety about where I’m going because I don’t know anyone where I’m going,” Keary said before the move.
At the time, there was also sadness as he prepared to say goodbye to the friends he had made at the ECU. Niagara Health announced in February that it was closing the long-term care home, built in 1972, because the building no longer met fire, accessibility and infection prevention and control standards, which had evolved significantly over the decades.
Following the announcement, Keary watched the number of residents steadily decline as they moved to new homes. He was among the last residents to leave before the ECU officially closed on Sept. 8.
As the numbers grew smaller, those who remained grew closer, sharing meals together and, for Keary, taking final opportunities to sit beneath his favourite tree and watch the birds.
“People I know are leaving and we say our goodbyes,” he says. “PSWs are retiring, nurses are retiring. Some of the ones I got along with really well have left. There were tears.”
That grief was shared, says Kerry Abbott, ECU Administrator.
“We definitely went through all the stages of grieving and some of us are still going through it – all of us, including the residents,” she says. “However, the remaining residents are looking forward to their new homes. The quieter it gets, the harder it is to be here.”
It is easier to win at bingo, she noted with a smile. When only one resident showed up for a scheduled match, staff joined in. Regardless of who called ‘Bingo,’ all prizes went to the resident.
"We tried to fill the gaps for them so they had companionship, but they were ready to go," Abbott says. "Some joined friends in their new homes. Some staff went to work in homes where residents were moving. It was a bit of a reunion."
That's what Keary hoped for when he moved. Perhaps he would reconnect with an old fishing buddy and relive memories of casting lines into Lake Erie, he said.
In his final days at the ECU, he focused on one last important decision: choosing the song that would play during his goodbye parade.
Residents received memorable farewell celebrations as they left, many accompanied by a favourite song.
Keary debated between Neil Young's Heart of Gold and Old Man. He wanted it to be a song staff knew so they could sing along as he departed.
The chorus, he noted, would be quieter than for those who had left before him, but no less emotional.
“I might be by myself when it happens,” he says. “It will be weird when I leave. You get used to things but I’m glad I’m here until the end.”
Robyn Keary was the last resident at the ECU.
The ECU officially closed on Sept. 8 following the successful transition of all residents to new homes. Throughout the closure process, Niagara Health worked closely with Ontario Health atHome, residents, families and care teams to support individualized transition plans and ensure continuity of care.
