Kelowna healthcare worker opens care farm to benefit dementia sufferers

A long-time healthcare worker in Lake Country is welcoming people suffering with dementia to relax, garden and find dignity on her flower-filled farm in a first-of-its-kind venture in the region.

Shelly Frend overcame a few hurdles to open Simple Life Care Farm with a group of volunteer caregivers this spring after testing it out on her own private care clients last year, and seeing positive mental health benefits.   

“One of my clients from last year is a senior with aggressive tendencies due to dementia, but out on the farm he was calm,” she said. “Watching how happy he was and how much he loved it encouraged me to continue, it really does work.”

Care farms are prevalent in many European countries but still a new idea in Canada. Visitors coping with various mental health challenges visit farms to reap the benefits of being outdoors contributing to gardening tasks in a supportive, supervised social setting.

The number of people suffering with dementia is approaching 1 million nationwide. It is a complex illness often requiring fulltime medical care, typically in assisted living and long-term care facilities. Frend first heard about Care Farms before COVID when her own mother was showing signs of dementia. She has worked in the healthcare field for decades and the past eight years with long-term care patients.

“I thought there has to be a better way than what we are doing, heavily medicating people and letting them wander hallways aimlessly, there is no quality of life there,” she said.

People coming to the farm are treated with dignity and respect.

“We don’t say ‘come to our day program,’ we say ‘we have a farm and we hear you have spare time and like to be outdoors,’” Frend said. “We want them to feel needed.”

First arriving at the farm, a new visitor will walk around the garden with a volunteer who will point out different tasks that need to be done such as weeding, watering and dead-heading flowers.

“The job of the volunteer is to get the person to engage with the environment by pointing out veggies, flowers and the water fountain and creating a to do list,” Frend said. “With dementia patients, their brains are being overloaded. Engaging with the environment allows them to focus on what is in front of them, pushing the dementia to the back and allowing their brains to reset.”

The sensory garden has different colours, things that move in the wind, water circulating and lots of different textures to touch.  

“Different textures help override the dementia. Their brains are constantly overwhelmed because they’re receiving all these files at once and trying to make sense of it all. Coming to the garden closes the door on that for awhile and they can rest and do tasks that come naturally.”

The visitors get to choose what they want to do. She said one farm visitor loves sweeping and using a wheelbarrow.

“He gets to pick what he wants to do and have a bit of control. In their life, they lose a lot of control and we try to give that back. We help as little and as much as we need.”

Visitors who complete a task get to see it checked off a list and receive positive feedback.  

“This whole generation of seniors are hardworking people who get their worth and value from contributing. We give them that sense of accomplishment.”

After lunch, the seniors and volunteers gather to reminisce about past times. An old washboard and butter churn spark conversation. Some people just want to sit by the water and listen to the water and birds in a cool shaded area. Most people don’t want to leave.

Frend has heard from clients’ family members that their loved one with dementia comes home from the farm tired and getting better sleeps from the fresh air.

Simple Life Care Farm is on the same farm she grew up on and is still owned by her parents who recently moved off the land due to her mom’s mobility issues.

After learning about a care farm in Ontario last year, Frend called the woman who runs it and signed up for a course with her on how to start her own.

“I learned lots,” Frend said. “The lady was running her farm once per week and closed in the winter. I wanted to run mine on a full-time basis, all year round.

In the middle of June last year, she and her dad chose a hay field that had been laying barren for a couple of years and started putting in raised beds and arches.

She ran into months of delays getting a business license because the authorities didn’t know how to categorize the new Care Farm concept.

By the time she got the required license, winter was coming and the project was put on hold until this spring.

“It’s still my dream to run a winter program where we can do garden projects,” she said. “On the property is a three-level barn with the middle level incomplete. I want to renovate it for a winter program but I’m short on money and still waiting on permits to go through.”

Government subsidized senior day programs can cost as little as five dollars per day. Because she isn’t subsidized, she has to charge more. It costs visitors to the farm $35 per hour, but Frend said she is flexible.

“I’m totally willing to work with people. A lady comes for five or six hours and I charge for four because that’s what the family can afford,” she said. “I want to help people and don’t want money to get in the way. I’d love to start a foundation to subsidize people who can’t afford it.”

Frend is hoping to see more care farms open up in BC. as day programs.

“This doesn’t cure dementia but it helps,” she said. “Especially now when people are kept home longer because waitlists are so long. It fills a gap.”

Simple Life Care Farm is located at 4551 Chase Road. Email bestlifehc.shelly@gmail.com to learn more or sign up as a volunteer.