New Seniors home to have household feel

The new Prince Edward Home will be a more social kind of seniors home, the provincial government has announced.

The province will divide the home — currently under construction on Charlottetown's Maypoint Road — into what it's calling 10 "households" each with 12 residents with two care workers looking after them.

"It allows for that social interaction with the other residents and staff and families," said Shelley Woods, chief nursing officer with Health P.E.I.'s department of home-based and long-term care.

"There will be like a kitchen, a living room and a dining area and 12 private rooms with private bathrooms."

The household-style care facilities will provide a higher quality of life for seniors, especially those living with dementia, said Woods.

Corrine Hendricken-Eldershaw, CEO of the Alzheimer's Society of P.E.I., said it's positive when residents with and without dementia live in the same household.

"It invites me, when I'm living the journey of dementia or have a cognitive impairment, to try to engage with those around me in my environment," said Hendricken-Eldershaw. "I would be happy to enter a facility such as this."

The government said the new $18 million Prince Edward Home will be completed by 2013. It will replace the current aging facility, which is adjacent to Victoria Park.

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