NiagaraShares.com - Resources for seniors, people with disabilities and caregivers.
About this Site
Linda Crabtree here - This website is all about sharing.
There are some 30,000 people with a disability of one kind or another in Niagara. There are countless seniors, many of whom live with multiple disabilities, and there are also thousands of caregivers, young and old, who help those in need carry on with their lives. All have a vast storehouse of experience and knowledge.
NiagaraShares.com can be an excellent source of information whether you need equipment, a service brought to our home instead of you going to it or to talk to someone who has been where you are now or going through the same thing right now.
The site also has an e-mail chatline that will let us all talk about anything and everything regarding our situations and this website will compile the very best of what we’ve shared so it will be as close as your computer. Once you request that you be on the e-mail chatline, you may come and go as you like. Every post from everyone on the chatline will go to everyone's e-mail. The chatline is restricted to people who are concerned about the issues and needs we address and live in the Niagara Peninsula. There will be no advertising on it or spam.
I'm also looking for people who enjoy talking on a chatline and have experience with caregiving or have found a good place to live once leaving the family home as they age or are disabled, and are willing to talk to others who are disabled as well, to talk to others on the chatline. We need people who know their stuff and will share to help others.
We'd like to hear from someone with chronic fatigue syndrome, hearing impaired and completely deaf, vision impaired and people who have recovered from various types of cancer and heart disease, people living with chronic pain, paraplegia and quadriplegiav and caregivers and seniors who are doing well enough to share their experiences. The people below have agreed to help and will be on the chatline.
Linda Crabtree
Betty Miller
Betty Miller, founder of Guardian Angels, is a resident of Niagara-on-the-lake and was a dental assistant for 15 years but when her mother, Edna, began to experience dementia and had to go into a nursing home, Betty became a staunch advocate for people in long-term assisted living situations.
The problems she and her mother experienced prompted Betty to start Guardian Angels which acts as a voice for those in long-term care. It was simple in the beginning … her mom complained of a sore foot. The people at the home said it was likely nothing and that Betty was over-reacting when she asked that her mother be looked at. Eventually, her mother developed gangrene and could have lost her leg but with Betty’s insistence and aggressive care, she lost two toes.
“I had to do something to affect change,” Betty said. So, she formed Guardian Angels, a registered charitable organization and a volunteer watchdog of Ontario nursing homes.
“Those who can’t speak for themselves and their families, these are the ones we’re there for. Doctors have known to make mistakes and being old doesn’t mean you deserve less medical care.”
Betty is on our chatline and will answer questions there or you may contact her at bettymiller@sympatico.ca or 905-468-8895.
“We call them nursing homes. They are not homes they are institutions. In European countries they revere their seniors. In North America, we institutionalize them. In Ontario if you are over 65 and in a hospital or a nursing home, you have someone to watch over you to make sure you are getting all the proper diagnostic testing and medication to restore your health. If you have a loved one who can no longer live alone or you, yourself, realize you need to make a change. If at all possible consider staying in your home and receiving some help there. There are alternatives to nursing homes and there is much help in the community to stay in your own home”…Betty Miller - May 28, 2008
Ian Greaves of Niagara Falls has served on the Niagara Falls Accessibility Advisory Committee for six years and the Region of Niagara Accessibility Advisory Committee for three years. He is a board member of the Niagara Peninsula Chapter of Hope of the MS Society, a member and past chair of the Ontario Division for Social Action Committee of the society and a board member of the Niagara Centre for Independent Living.
Ian was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 27 years ago and worked in urban transportation planning and land development until retiring six years ago. He has very limited mobility but that doesn’t stop him. He uses a Pride GoGo scooter and a Toyota RAV 4 with a Bruno scooter lift in it to get around.
Ian is on our chatline to answer questions, or you can call him at (905)353-9999.
Ian Greaves
Noreen Thwaites
Noreen Thwaites has lived at Linhaven Home for the past six years. Prior to moving, Noreen and her husband, Art, farmed for almost 50 years and ran a mixed fruit farm near Jordan Pond until Art had a stroke.
Diagnosed with a cousin of multiple sclerosis, Noreen uses a wheelchair for mobility. She has been a member of the Linhaven Residents’ Council and served as president. We all know that everyone’s needs are different but Noreen can tell you what it’s like for her to live at Linhaven and will gladly speak to people on e-mail at nthwaites@becon.org Noreen is also on our chatline.
If you have urinary incontinence including: urge, stress, overflow or functional (not being able to get to the toilet on time or not being able to get up from it) or you have fecal incontinence, you’ll want to get to know this next professional. Sharon Groff has been a registered nurse for 35 years and dealing with all kinds of issues relating to incontinence for 20 years. For the past four years, Sharon has been working in the community as a trained continence advisor which means that she knows her business about your business and you can ask her anything including questions about self catheterizing routines, problems with catheters both foley and suprapubic or bowel routines and/ or lack of them.
For the past 20 years, Sharon has worked with Dr. Donna Fedorkow, a renowned urogynecologist. Presently they run a clinic three half days a week out of the Colposcopy Clinic at the Henderson Hospital in Hamilton. The Friday morning clinic is geared specifically to women that are 75 years of age or older and to women with special needs. In addition to this, Sharon also works with CarePartners and does home visits through CCAC in Niagara.
If you are male or female and experience incontinence it isn’t the end of the world. Incontinence in many cases is a symptom of something else and by making a few changes can often be managed if not minimized. This lovely, cheerful woman has suggestions galore and will answer your questions through this site. Just send your questions to linda@lindacrabtree.com and I’ll post the questions and answers here. No names will be used. You can also arrange to have a home visit by Sharon by asking your GP to refer you to CCAC. CCAC also accepts self referrals (if you qualify for homecare) so you can do it yourself if you wish. Once Sharon is involved in your care, she will act as an advocate between you and your doctor so no one should be hesitant to find answers to a problem that can be embarrassing, upsetting or sometimes even lead to placement in a nursing home when it doesn’t have to. Everyone is entitled to quality of life and this is not necessarily something that you have to live with.
As Sharon says, "It’s time we came out of the water closet!"
Sharon Groff
Nate Diffin
Nate Diffin is a personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach. Working in Niagara for the last two years, Nate travels for in-home training sessions throughout the peninsula. Specializing in Strong Man adaptions for fat loss in those who are young and healthy, Nate also has experience working with seniors and people with disabilities who want to improve their strength and mobility. Nate will be on the chatline to answer questions about exercise and what might work for you. He can also be reached at www.natesfiness.com.
Tom Hunter - Born and raised in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Tom Hunter first studied nutrition at McGill University and received his Master’s degree in Health Administration at the University of Toronto. He then worked in rehabilitation and continuing care at Westpark Centre in Toronto. After that, he worked as the program director for Geriatric Psychiatry at the Toronto Rehabilitation Centre. He then worked for St. Elizabeth Health Care as the Regional Manager for Niagara and London. Tom has also been the Administrator of Gilmore Lodge (Fort Erie), the Woodlands of Sunset and Rapalje Lodge (Welland) and is currently the Administrator at Linhaven (St. Catharines).
Married and the father of three, Tom and his wife, Kathryn live on a horse farm in Effingham.
Tom will answer our questions and concerns regarding long-term care, respite care and adult day services and any other matters regarding these areas of care.
Tom Hunter
I’ve also been very interested in all disability issues and for 11 years have written a newspaper column called Access Niagara for The St. Catharines Standard. I am also passionate about Universal Design, along with barrier-free design and Visitability -- different ways of looking at designing and developing homes and public spaces. These concepts allow disabled people to live productive, independent lives and individuals to age in place.
My husband, Ron, is also my caregiver. For the last 28 years he has helped me do whatever I can’t do and taken the load from me by doing housework, making meals and being there when I get stuck. He knows what kind of a day I’m having by the number of items I’ve dropped on the floor and been unable to retrieve. We also know what caregiving can do to a relationship.
I’m officially a senior citizen and my mother, Dorothy Crabtree, is 93, in Linhaven Home and has dementia. My sister, Kathie, is truly one of the Sandwich Generation: looking after three other loved ones; one with dementia who also has cancer, one with Alzheimer’s and one who is nonverbal and partially paralysed as the result of a stroke who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She also has two daughters in university. She is not alone in her life as a caregiver. There are countless thousands of people in Niagara who juggle the needs of a growing family with those of aging relatives.
Navigating the system and trying to find what you need can be a long and frustrating process. NiagaraShares.com can help by letting us share our experiences, our finds, our successes, what works and what doesn’t.
Something I’ve lived by for a long time, and I think Albert Einstein said it, “Why try to remember if you can write it down.” I believe in writing it down and we can all have a store of knowledge on NiagaraShares.com.
Some of the businesses in the site have been asked to support it with small donations ($50 for two years) to help me pay for hosting, domain name, research, etc. All of the entries are written by me and are as truthful a reflection of what is offered as possible. They are not paid advertorials.
I've also had the expertise of Zaher Elahi from Brock University who has set up this website to enable me to update it anytime I Iike, Philip Cosgrave, a fourth year sudent at Brock Universty and JJ Munsie, a student at The St. Catharines Collegiate who earned volunteer hours by helping me set up this website. George Darte of the Darte Funeral Chapel and Rick and Cathy Cymba of Martindale IDA helped finance the building of this site. Eileen Zarafonitis has also given many hours composing entries for this site.
This website is, by its nature, a work in progress. It will grow as ideas and resources come in. It began in May 2008. How it matures is up to you. If you need something that isn't in one of the categories, let me know. If you know something that could help others, tell me. As I said...it's all about sharing.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Cheers!
Linda Crabtree
C.M., O.Ont., O.M.C., B.A., LL.D. (Hon.)