quality residential care for children and adults

Our Services

Stewart Homes operates residences in eleven locations in Peterborough and Pickering. Please read below for details on the services we offer.  Click on a link on the left to read about our eleven residences.

Stewart Homes is the only fully CARF Accredited OARTY member providing services for medically fragile children in Ontario.

Total Care

Currently we have in residence 85 individuals of various ages 35 of whom have Braden Scores of 12 or lower indicating High or Severe risk of developing decubitus ulcers. No child in our care has ever developed one of these ulcers.

Complex Care Needs

Some children have severe mobility and neurological disorders , post-stroke management needs, moderate to severe Cerebral Palsy, esophageal motility disorders, complex seizure disorders requiring recurrent seizure protocol management and supervision of medications.

Children with G-tubes, sometimes combined with behaviour disorders, often need tertiary assessment and replacement of these devices in hospital. This requires cooperation between our employees and hospital staff. The level of trust and respect that has developed between ourselves and our local hospitals ensures that these cooperative efforts are most beneficial for the individuals concerned.

Respite Care Services

Timely use of respite care can save a placement from breakdown and allow parents to continue to care for their child. Our respite service provides exactly what you and your parent caregivers need: a safe high quality temporary placement that is reliable and worry free. Safe transportation in our well equipped vehicles can be arranged if desired. Read more . . .

Palliative Care

Occasionally children in palliative condition are referred to Stewart Homes specifically for end of life care. Many of our staff have developed the special skills necessary to work with children with terminal illnesses and have experience working closely with palliative care specialist physicians providing for these individuals. Our staff focus closely on the children’s family members as they see both child and family through the end of life process.

Our Homes are Small Communities

Young people living with us are usually here for extended periods, sometimes many years. Our residences become their homes in every sense of the word. As well as being safe and healthy places to live, we ensure that these homes are stimulating, exciting places to live.

Each of our residences is a small community of participants. These are lively, vibrant groups of individuals in care, staff members and family visitors. Our staff are a diverse team who are enthusiastic about providing warm and friendly homes for our kids. This naturally produces an atmosphere that is friendly and upbeat with people happily interacting and having fun. No one is lonely or left out. Everyone has a friend . . . or two . . . or ten. We make sure of it.

Seizure disorders

Since most of our residents have highly complex medical profiles, a large percentage of them have seizure disorder. Some may be unstable and have recurrent seizures while others are, at least temporarily, stable. Either way they all have well trained staff caring for them who are familiar with their individualized seizure protocols which are reviewed regularly and kept current. Staff have ready access to their Residence Supervisor, Nurse Manager and Program Physician if the need arises.

Medications

Our staff, trained, practiced and careful at medication administration, are responsible for the delivery of over 1,100 medication doses per day to our 80+ residents.  They work closely with our Doctor, Registered Nurses and local Pharmacists to ensure this is done accurately and that prescribed medications are effective for our residents.

Help to Home Program

If you are considering Kinship or fostering for one of your complex children our Help to Home program may be right for you. Here’s how it works:

1. Your placement team chooses a kinship or foster placement.

2. To prepare for that placement, you pre-place the child with Stewart Homes on a temporary basis.

3. At the child’s first POC, his or her worker sets as the child’s primary goal a move to Kinship Care and sets a target date.

4. To help your kinship or foster placement succeed, Our Help to Home team, will:

a. Enroll your foster or kinship parents in our Kinship Care Training Program,

b. Build a thorough package of medical, behavioural, educational and physical care information and instructions for your new kinship caregivers.

c. Conduct a series of pre-placement visits and short stays with hands-on training for your new parents at their home.

d. Stewart Homes will remain available on a backup or respite care basis to help ensure the long term success of the new placement.