Baycrest Health Sciences and the Baycrest Foundation held a celebratory dinner in honour of Edwin Goldstein on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017, for his 50 years of exemplary lay leadership and service to the Baycrest community. The occasion also marked the announcement of a charitable campaign in recognition of his dedication throughout the years.
From left: Dr. William Reichman, Baycrest Health Sciences President and CEO; Edwin Goldstein; and Josh Cooper, President and CEO of the Baycrest Foundation.
The fundraising campaign has a goal of $800,000, which will go towards revitalizing a floor in the Apotex Centre, Jewish Home for the Aged long-term care facility. The namesake “Goldstein Neighbourhood” will feature a new dining room, family room, breakfast bar and activities area, to create a more home-like, comfortable and less clinical setting for its residents and their guests.
It’s just the latest news in a long tradition of Goldstein making an impact on Baycrest.
Following in the footsteps of his parents and grandparents, he helped create a remarkable organization that cares for older adults even as it educates and improves the journey of aging.
Goldstein’s relationship with Baycrest Health Sciences began half a century ago, when there was only one large building on an otherwise empty field. He contributed his experience, passion and dedication, and worked with other determined community leaders to build a new, expanded Jewish Home for the Aged.
The new Goldstein Neighbourhood in the Apotex Centre will be a lasting gift to the people of Baycrest and the wider community.
The Apotex Centre, Jewish Home for the Aged welcomed its first residents in 2000, and – as any homeowner knows – spaces often need to be updated, renovated and re-imagined as needs evolve.
Compared to when the Apotex Centre was built, many older adults are staying in their own homes longer as they age. Their healthcare needs are increasingly complex by the time they move into a long-term care setting, said Sue Calabrese, Director, Care and Resident Experience. More residents are in wheelchairs, which require extra space for manoeuvring in the dining and lounge areas.
Research has also shown that the physical environment can affect a patient’s levels of stress and social engagement. For example, one U.S. study found that chairs positioned shoulder-to-shoulder along dayroom walls suppressed social interaction, while arranging chairs around small tables in the middle of the room increased interaction.
The Goldstein Neighbourhood will be the second area in the Apotex Centre, Jewish Home for the Aged to have walls removed and spaces opened up in a major renovation. These kinds of changes in the Apotex 5 North location have already improved quality of life for men and women who require around-the-clock care because of frailty, serious health conditions and/or dementia.
The new neighbourhood is light, bright and open. There is no nursing station, and items like patient charts and blood pressure machines are hidden away.
“It’s the heart of the home for residents,” said Calabrese.
Thanks to generous donors, the new Goldstein Neighbourhood will bring a new “heart of the home” to many more people at Baycrest’s Apotex Centre, Jewish Home for the Aged.
To make a new gift towards the Goldstein Neighbourhood, please contact Elana Carr Horowitz at the Baycrest Foundation by calling 416-785-2500, ext. 2568 or by emailing ecarrhorowitz@baycrest.org