Our 2010 Summer Party

We recently held a block party in an effort to meet our neighbours and to celebrate summer with friends and relatives. It was an uncharacteristically cool and rainy day for the central Okanagan but it only dampened our clothes, not our spirit!


Many hands helped prepare a sumptuous feast that made everybody forget about the rain.


And what goes well with great food? Great music! Entertainment was provided by two musical acts with connections to Connect Lake Country. The opening act, which was delayed by the only significant rainstorm of the day, was an acoustic duo consisting of IT Coach Kevin and former staff member Gary who serenaded the crowd while they enjoyed their meal.



After the feast, much socializing took place. Warren and his family checked out our brand new gazebo.



and everybody got to know each other's families and the neighbours were able to finally find out who hangs out in the beautiful new building in their midst.


The day was topped off by a rockin' performance by a band featuring Nurse Jen's husband on drums.



They played two sets of great music that sent everybody home with a smile on their face.


The day was a great success, largely due to the hard work by everybody at Connect Lake Country.

Wasn't That a Party?!?!?

We had a GREAT party at our official Grand Opening!!
Hundreds of folks came to join us at our ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open CONNECT Lake Country. Neighbors, friends, business partners, community supporters, family and many health care professionals all joined us on tours of the buildings, a little lunch and cake, speeches and general merriment!
Below you see John Sherwood with his wife Suzanne, owners of CONNECT with Patti Flaherty, Executive Director of CONNECT.


Al Condeluci joined us for the celebrations. He has worked as an attendant, caseworker, advocate, planner, program director and now, CEO of his organization, UCP/CLASS of Pittsburgh. UCP/CLASS has created a family of corporations and is dedicated to its mission- “working towards a community where each belongs.” Al gave all in attendance a reminder of why we are here...to make lives better. Thank you Al for traveling so far to make a message so clear!

Randy Topliss was the first person to move into CONNECT Lake Country and here is pictured with the Mayor of Lake Country, James Baker, just about to cut the ribbon!

Everyone enjoyed the beautiful cake! A big thank you to Suzanne Sherwood and Brittany Hatch for heading up the planning of this wonderful event.

John Sherwood kept the masses entertained with his stories of his mother's legacy and the "birth" of the amazing buildings you've seen in this blog.

Deb Preston honored us with her presence and represented our partners from Interior Health at the podium. She and her colleagues are responsible for the conception of this initiative which began 4 years ago. Without their vision, fortitude and commitment British Columbia would not have this new and innovative service in our province. A big thank you goes to all member of the IH Acquired Brain Injury Steering Committee (of which Deb is a member) for supporting CONNECT Lake Country.

Al Condeluci provided a teaching forum for people who live and work at CONNECT prior to our ceremony. He spoke of building bridges to community and focused on building real relationships, he was right in line with how we are running our services in Lake Country!!

A gaggle of CONNECT Langley team members came to support us at the Grand Opening. It meant so much to John Sherwood and the staff in Lake Country to have their support! We couldn't have created the Lake Country service without the everyday hard work of those in Langley!

Thank you to all who joined us on April 29, 2009...what a great day!
(And thanks to Mike Rossiter for the terrific photos!)

Let's Get Outside!

Construction and development of our beautiful landscaping has begun!

We now have a driveway, a parking lot and grass!
Painters have updated our outside colors...












And Richard and Jude can't wait to relax in the summer sun!

GREAT THINGS!!!

Great, great things are happening in Lake Country!!
We have so much to celebrate in such a short time! It has only been 3 months since we opened our first home, and there has been tons of stuff going on!
Landscaping and paving has finally started, which turned people's thoughts to gardening and lawn bowling! Since the sun has been shining the equipment outside has been running full steam to get our shrubs, grass and patios in! People can't wait to have a beautiful space to hang out in the sunshine. We had to stop a few guys from trying to make "dirt angels" in the piles outside!

Here Gary enjoys a visit from his brother Dennis....they don't look anything alike, do they!?

Too bad Dwight doesn't look happy in his new home!

Wahoooo!






Janette from Langley came for another visit and joined in with Jennifer and Trish for a laugh!


House B1 is filling up nicely with 2 women and 3 men, with another 2 men expected shortly. They have filled their home with potted plants, a few daughters and dogs who visit, crochet and knitting projects, tons of music, great food and laughter.

Mark and Richard are caught Googling!



Luc's busy making his lunch.

Lorrie has been keeping himself busy in our "garage" building this chair and now staining it. You will see a few of these chairs on our new lawn shortly!

Joyce loves walking through her new community!



















Christy and Trinity are hard at work!

Christy is our Human Resources Coach and is responsible for recruiting our wonderful Connectors who support people in their homes. Trinity works as a House Manager making sure we have consistency and great communication amongst our staff.

We are preparing for our Grand Opening on April 29th...if you haven't received your invitation yet please feel free to call us at 250-469-9358 or consider this your official invite!


Please join us for the Grand Opening of
CONNECT Lake Country!

With Special Guest Al Condeluci, Ph.D.

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

11:00 am to 4:00 pm

Lunch served from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm
Official Ribbon Cutting at 12:30 pm

11438 Bottom Wood Lake Road, Winfield BC
Just 10 minutes North of the Kelowna airport

Please RSVP by April 20th, 2009 to
Brittany Hatch at 604-263-3621/1-888-263-5168
or via e-mail at: brittanyh@connectcommunities.ca

www.connectcommunities.ca

Special Visitor!

We were joined by a very special visitor this past week at CONNECT, Lake Country. Phyllis Ommensen from Brisbane Australia came to visit her nephew John Sherwood. Phyllis is one of 8 siblings of Janet Sherwood, who started Classic Caregivers which led to Classic Homestead, which changed to CONNECT Langley and has led to CONNECT Lake Country! Phyllis had visited the site 2 years ago when there was just the development sign on the lot and was completely thrilled to see the (almost!) completed project! Phyllis stayed with us to help out on site for a few days and she met many people who live here and the staff that support them. She helped with unpacking and getting the next few homes ready for occupancy. Phyllis is very proud of our accomplishments and thinks it is a great tribute to her sister's legacy. Thanks for celebrating with us!

In other news, we received approval from Community Care Licensing and Public Health to open houses B1 and B2. We are moving in people to B1 and when we are filled in there we will start moving people into B2. We have brought on another team of great Connectors and continue each day with training and education. Our rehab coaches continue to assess the needs of the new folks moving in and everyone is hard at work creating plans and goals, setting direction, creating schedules and getting busy!



Luc has just joined us in B1 and he tells us how happy he is to be close to his family in Vernon. He was completing rehabilitation in Alberta, but is very excited to have a resource close so to home!


Chris recently had the opportunity to kiss the Stanley Cup in Vernon. So many folks have been creating busy lives for themselves since moving in. We've had bowling tournaments with the Wii, ping pong festivals, people are swimming and using the gym at Parkinson Rec Centre up to three times per week, we've got artists painting in the hallways, and we have a new "garage" where folks have built shelving, birdhouses and put together Adirondack chairs.


Alex has been cooking up some Thai-influenced meals for his room mates. And Gary loves the computer and can be found Facebooking regularly!


Everyone is enjoying our new pool table in the Rec room and people are settling in and making new friendships.

Our landscaping has begun this week thanks to the spring weather and we are awaiting one more delivery of furniture and several more deliveries of equipment!

We are grateful to our funders and supporters for partnering with us in this very unique "program". They have the vision to see things differently as we do, and together we are creating residential and transitional rehab services that will make lives better.

We're CONNECTed!!!

It's been too busy to blog at CONNECT Lake Country!! We've had so much on the go in the last month, it's been crazy, funny, hard work, lots of change, lot of good, great people, new people, old people, friendly dogs, tired construction workers, new inspectors and so much more!

• Homes A1 and A2 are open, with a total of 10 people moved in...2 more are expected this week! House B1 is slated to open mid-March, with the last three homes following close behind.
  
• Our team of rehabilitation coaches have completed orientation and are creating plans, assessing needs and getting to know everyone at CONNECT
• Langley staff have been to the Lake Country site to assist with training and team building
• Team Meetings have been held to ensure people are challenged and supported appropriately. We love these meetings as they are filled with potential and opportunities!
• We've had a ton of visitors; from family members, friends, colleagues and potential room mates, IH staff, potential new staff...and dogs! We have a lot of dogs!
• Both services; transitional rehabilitation and residential services are now being offered. Programs are very fluid and adaptable as we bring in new clientelle with new staff. Interior Health is partnering with us to review applicants, establish move in dates, create rehabilitation plans and to help us provide the most beneficial support.
  

The Breakfast Club!

Alison

Joyce

• We are hoping for "substantial completion" notice from Yellowridge Construction. They are almost ready to officially pass over the keys! We have some kinks to work out; like getting our on-call emergency system running, certifying the elevator, get the landscaping underway, complete work on the telephone & fax system, finish the fireplace mantles and complete the touch ups on the paintwork. Each home is looking beautiful with its own decor scheme. The last of the furniture is being delivered and unpacked this coming week.

Ozzie

Richard

Mark

Dwight & Kyle

• We have so many people who are CONNECTed with us who are working so hard to complete the construction and create the programs at CONNECT. We thank you all for your hard work and dedication to the project!
  

Michelle

Christy & Melissa

Jen

Carol & Tara

Chris

• Our new phone number on site is 250-469-9358. Address is 11438 Bottom Wood Lake Road, Lake Country, BC V4V1V4.
  

Gary

Christy

• We are planning our official Grand Opening for April 29, 2009! Stay tuned here for more details!