Our Stories

When Villa Leonardo Gambin Care Community in Woodbridge first opened there were more team members than residents. It’s something that’s certainly changed in the last 13 years, but Vanessa Romero, winner of the Ontario Long-Term Care Association’s Nursing Senior Leadership Award and Director of Care at Villa Leonardo, still remembers it fondly.

Any pastor on Earth can tell you that the devil is full of lies and deceit, but most don’t prove their point with card tricks.

Clover, a jet-black, 120lb potbelly pig, walks out to a round of applause. Residents, seated on lawn chairs, watch as Clover performs tricks. She’s happy to do her figure eights and push a ball with her snout. She’ll even roll over for a belly rub.

When Charlotte Daly found a stray kitten in a parking lot, she named him Raider and took him home to meet her other cat, Sparkie. Their adventures together became the inspiration for a book.

Loud cheering, complete with a chorus of We Are the Champions, rang through the halls and up to the third floor where the Bible study group had been in session. Now, however, the entire residence was coming down to see what all the ruckus was about.

“One! Two! Three!”

Eighteen-year-old Don Galloway sat in the cafeteria of Vancouver City College with his friends, chatting and having a good time.

Music and laughter intertwine, composing a symphony of glee as residents chat, sing, dance, and paint. This is the memory care section of Muskoka Shores Care Community in Gravenhurst, where each month Nancy Hunter comes in to paint with the residents.

Gemma Laxina loves food so much she has built a career around it for the last 18 years.

Sandy beaches, Christmas trees and Holiday choirs all have one thing in common: they can be shared with those you care about. Or in this case, with all your neighbours.

108-year-old Margaret Cruickshank is indomitable.

Simon, an orange and white cat, purrs softly, lifting a leg to lick. When his preferred scratch-spot is hit, he rolls over for a full belly rub. All of this seems normal — except that Simon isn’t a real cat.

The multicolored piñata swings wildly, it’s unruly path decided by the thwack of a stick. The other children wait excitedly, hopeful for either their turn or the piñata’s demise.