Page 13 - Brandon Sun - 2018 Community Leader Awards

THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2018 • THE BRANDON SUN COMMUNITY LEADER AWARDS 2018 • 13

» SENIORS’ ADVOCATE AWARD, SPONSORED BY CANDO RAIL SERVICES

“Disruptor” dedicated to seniors’ advocacy

BY MICHAEL LEE

Gail Freeman-Campbell has been called a “disruptor” for
the work she does with her private home-care business
Daughter On Call, but it’s a title she takes as a positive more
than anything.
“If you don’t raise the issues they never get dealt with and I
really like a challenge,” she said.
Freeman-Campbell is the owner and CEO of Daughter On
Call and the visionary behind the private senior’s residence on
Eighth Street, Kirbyson Home, which opened last November.
Named after one of its tenants, Fay Kirbyson, and her son
who became a major investor in the project, Kirbyson Home
provides 24-hour care, independence and gives residents a place
that resembles a home, with private bedrooms and bathrooms
and a large living-room space.
Last December, the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal
Corporation honoured Freeman-Campbell with a housing
award for her Kirbyson Home residence.
Despite the negativity she first received about Kirbyson
Home — including criticisms that nobody would pay more to
live in it — Freeman-Campbell said she has built up a long
wait list and has plans to build a second residence at the corner
of 26th Street and McTavish Avenue this summer. The building
is expected to be completed either in late fall or early winter.
“Every week, I have builders and investors calling and
wanting to build and put one up for me somewhere, whether
it’s in Brandon or rural Manitoba,” she said.
Freeman-Campbell, a former nurse at the Brandon Reginal
Health Centre and LPN instructor at Assiniboine Community
College, started Daughter On Call nearly six years ago as a Owner and CEO of Daughter On Call Gail Freeman-Campbell. (Michael Lee/The Brandon Sun)
way to give people better care and comfort when it comes to
health care.
She said her career at the hospital wasn’t going in the
direction she wanted it to go and she just didn’t have the same
satisfaction with her job compared to when she first graduated
from school.
With Daughter On Call, Freeman-Campbell said she aimed
to establish a sense of trust with her clients and build
relationships with both them and their families.
This move away from the “cookie-cutter approach” of
government creates a level of service for each individual,
Freeman-Campbell said. For example, where one person may
require a half-hour to take a bath, another client with
Alzheimer’s may need an hour or more.
“So I think the public appreciates that fact, that we will do
what they are looking for specifically,” she said.
And as baby boomers age, Freeman-Campbell expects there
will be more people who will want that choice between a
personal care home or something else.
Starting out with one health-care aide, Daughter On Call
now employs 70 staff and has an office in Neepawa, with
another set to open in Portage la Prairie this fall.
The inspiration for Kirbyson Home, meanwhile, came after
she said she saw a need for 24-hour care, in light of the long
wait times for personal care home placements.
And although she can’t offer the same wages as the
government can, Freeman-Campbell said it is offset by the
work-life balance she is able to offer her employees, whether
it’s a single mom who has to take her child to a lesson or sports
practice, or an employee who is going to school.
In the end, she said she will not ask her staff to do anything
she won’t do herself. Brandon Sun Daughter on Call
“I think that people are looking for options and I think we owner Gail Freeman-Campbell is
definitely have some deficits in our health-care system, both seen last year outside of the local
locally and provincially, and this gives people another option,” company’s six-unit seniors hous-
she said. ing complex at 1323 Eighth
» mlee@brandonsun.com Street. (file)
» Twitter: @mtaylorlee

Nichols helps keep Erickson seniors active

BY MICHAEL LEE

Inspired by her love for people and community, Mary Nichols
is lauded in Erickson as someone who puts the needs of others
well ahead of her own.
Nichols is the resource coordinator for the community group
Services To Seniors, an organization that provides programs
and support to seniors living in the Erickson, Onanole and the
Sandy Lake areas.
Since taking up the job 11 years ago, Nichols has helped
organize coffee parties, exercise classes and arranged for seniors
to get walkers and wheelchairs when they need them.
“I care about the people who live in this community,” she
said. “The main bottom line for my job is helping to keep people
in their homes as long as possible.”
Originally from Winnipeg, Nichols moved to Erickson with
her husband. She said her son was already living in the area,
while her husband fell in love with the countryside.
“I thought I was coming here to die,” Nichols said, as she
wondered what she would do in the country.
It was at that point she decided to apply for a job as the
resource coordinator for Services To Seniors after the previous
coordinator passed away.
Nichols admits she didn’t know too much about the position
when she applied, but what she did know going into it was that
the job required a caring person to fill that role.
“The job description asked for that kind of direction (and) I
believe I felt I had the leadership skills to do that,” she said.
And even though the position is only part time, Nichols is
said to have put in more hours than her job description entails.
She has been known for calling people during snow storms,
arranging rides to doctors appointments and filling out
government forms for clients.
If she knows of anyone who lives in a relatively isolated area,
Nichols will take the time to go out and drive them to local
events. “”It’s all about communication,” she said.
Nichols was instrumental in moving Services To Seniors out
of its storage-room space in the municipal office building to its
current location down the street.
Along with being an active member of her local Lutheran
chuch, she has also coordinated a volunteer palliative care
program and installs the Victoria Lifeline medical alert system
directly into peoples’ homes herself.
Services To Seniors has also been involved with other
community initiatives over the years. In 2015, Services To Senior's advocate Mary Nichols from Erickson. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)
Seniors and the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve acquired
grant funding so they could build garden plots for a community At 72 years old, Nichols was candid about her ongoing plans. “I don’t see
garden in Erickson. “I’ve asked the funeral director to clean my desk when they put myself wanting to quit this job and doing much else,” she said.
The idea was to help seniors access good, quality produce me in the box, that’s what’s next,” she said with a laugh. “Other than that, I would be doing community service again.”
and give them an opportunity to remain physically active in Although people tell her she looks tired, as she sees it, Nichols » mlee@brandonsun.com
thier communities. said it’s because she cares about people. » Twitter: @mtaylorlee