ST. THOMAS – A $25,000 provincial grant has given a boost to a program here that cares for seniors with dementia and progressive cognitive impairment.
The funding from Queen’s Park for the adult day program at Valleyview Home on Burwell Road will support both clients and caregivers – something local officials say is increasingly important as the city’s population ages and the demand for long-term care grows.
“It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s super helpful,” the program’s supervisor, Paula Henderson, said of the grant. “Our capacity (on) some days (is) low because we don’t have the staffing to support the complex needs of the clients that are coming in.”
Over the one-year period that ended in March, Valleyview’s adult day program served 231 seniors. The program runs two sessions a day, five days a week, where staff offer exercise and therapeutic recreation, dementia-specific programming, a community bath program, transportation and overnight respite care two nights a week. The latter has a wait list.
The grant will fund dementia-informed technology, including interactive and sensory-based tools. Recreation and wellness programming will be expanded and a lending library for caregivers to borrow resources to better support their loved ones at home will be introduced. The funding will also support an additional four-hour staff shift each week for the next year.
Paula Henderson was photographed at Valleyview Home in St. Thomas after it received a $25,000 provincial grant on Monday, July 6, 2026. (Allison Young/The )
Henderson said the additional staffing will allow the program to provide more individualized support and therapeutic programming for clients who need extra care.
“I want people to realize where day programs fit into someone’s journey,” Henderson said. “If we’re funded appropriately just to help clients age in place at home longer (and) support their caregivers, they’d be out of long-term care and they’d be out of hospitals… this grant is certainly going to help a lot for this particular program.”
Mayor Joe Preston said this kind of care is increasingly important in St. Thomas, which has a booming population and thus more elderly people who need care.
“We know the cost of expansion of long-term care facilities and if we can deal with more people at a long-term care facility by using day programs, we really have touched on what the future will have to look like,” Preston said.
He said helping seniors remain in their homes longer benefits everyone.
“Not having to take up a bed in a long-term care facility means better for all of us, certainly the families involved, the seniors involved and the institutions, where space is starting to become at great demand,” Preston said.
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