The Ott March 09

The Ottawa CitizenMarch 18, 2009

Re: The only home she's ever known, March 14.

If the closing of the Rideau Regional Centre is to be a "historic" day, there should endure a balanced record of its 58-year existence -- the good with the bad.

When my family and I came to Ottawa in 1957 the centre was "the Smiths Falls Hospital School." I had experience of such institutions in England and was dismayed to find that placement there seemed to be the only option for my special-needs daughter, aged eight.

Local associations for such children were in their infancies and schooling almost non-existent.

I need not have worried. Under the fine guidance of the then director, Dr. Harold Frank, she attended school, learning to read and write and acquire skills we had never dreamt she would master. The chaplain, the Rev. E. Phipps, nurtured her interest in the Anglican church and confirmed her. She worked in the mail room, the cafeteria, the laundry; she sang in concerts -- she blossomed. She lived at the centre until she was 21 when thanks to the progress she had made she was among some of the first residents to be rehabilitated into group homes in the community.

In the 1970s this was a time of optimism; provincial funding was enabling us to open and expand such homes, reducing numbers in the large institutions and also the local waiting lists.

Alas, in the next two decades provincial governments changed and so did their priorities. Many of the group homes and their attendant programs closed. Some people were able to move on to assisted independent living but many have returned to (now aging) parents or are housed, less appropriately, in long-term care residences where their hard-won efforts at independence are of little use to them. Meanwhile that waiting list is growing.

The infusion of money, organization and commitment which is bringing the remaining residents of Rideau Regional into local group homes is admirable and hopefully will spell success for them and their families. But in honesty a few of the latter will remember the centre with nostalgia and gratitude as being, in the words of parents, "the only home they had ever known."

N. Ann Smith,

Ottawa

The Ottawa Citizen March 18, 2009

The excellent article on the closing of the Rideau Regional Centre in Smiths Falls and the Quesnel family's journey with the centre since 1959 was moving and enlightening. I could not help but feel joy in knowing Joanne was so well loved and cared for by family and centre staff.

This must be a very anxious time for them during this transition period.

It is comforting to know that caregivers strive to provide babies, children and adults with a quality of life they so much deserve. The parents and staff of children with physical and developmental disabilities are as special as the residents they care for.

Jocelyne Lachance,

Nepean

The Ottawa Citizen March 17, 2009

Re: The only home she's ever known, March 14.

I want to thank the Citizen for the article Andrew Duffy wrote about my sister Joanne, her days at Rideau Regional Centre and her move into the community.

The article well depicts what her life at Rideau Regional was like and the importance of the facility to not only her, but my parents, Lillian and Richard Quesnel, for the last 50 years.

Although difficult for the parents involved (most of them aged), it is well known that the time has come for the closing of such institutions. Mr. Duffy captured beautifully what Rideau Regional meant to all who had a liaison with it.

The photographs really supported what my Mom has said for years. Life at Rideau Regional was not one of dreariness, padded cells and neglect as so many people thought.

I hope people look at the online video at ottawacitizen.com. That was a tribute to not only Joanne, but to the numerous staff at Rideau Regional who have over the years taken the time to fill the residents' lives with a sense of community, family and a purpose of being.

As a family, we are most anxious for Joanne to arrive this Thursday. We are thrilled with what we have seen to date at Rotary House. At an open house, all of us were thoroughly impressed with the facility and the staff. From the chairman of the board, to the director, to the home manager and others, all have personalities that can do nothing but give us a sense of comfort at this time.

This article has given my parents the gift of a true memory of not only the upcoming event, but of Joanne's life.

In a day and age when the handicapped are still shunned mostly as a result of discomfort and ignorance, the Citizen article succeeded in confirming that Joanne matters and has her place in society, if only to be a teacher to others on what is important in life.

I hope that all who read it will recognize the history that is being made with the closing of such institutions.

One would hope with so many mentally handicapped having come into the community in the last four years, that some will find a renewed sense of compassion and more importantly, confirmation that life as we individually interpret it can always be worse. If those who are able-minded and able-bodied would give just one day towards the care of someone in need, any need, wouldn't life be like the fairy tale that we all grow up wishing for?

Joanne's story was one worthy to be told and I thank the Citizen and the reporter for tackling the task at hand with compassion and integrity.

Nicole Casey,

Ottawa