OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor. This letter is in response to the article published March 26, titled, 'Former HRC residents want the buildings torn down'. Send your letter to [email protected]
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This recent article expressing the concerns of people who once lived in Huronia Regional Centre brought forward a distressing concern. The suggestion that the buildings on this site be used as a long term care (LTC) facility are egregious in the extreme.
Institutionalization of any human being is completely unconscionable and this applies equally to people who require care because of aging or disability needs.
The lesson that should have been learned about this facility apparently needs to be repeated in the strongest possible way. Institutions harm people by their very nature.
They deprive people of the normal living experiences we all value, such as small homes in vibrant communities, the dignity of personal privacy and space, the vital element of natural and unhindered connections with those we love, the sights and sounds of the natural rhythms of daily life, the freedom to come and go when and where we wish.
To have care needs of any sort, for any reason, does not eliminate the importance of retaining those opportunities and experiences in our lives.
We absolutely must refrain from using the Huronia buildings as another institution into which people will be placed in the name of providing them care.
I strongly suspect that none of the people calling for this site to be redeveloped into a LTC facility would themselves want to live there. Research has repeatedly shown that as people age or develop care needs for any other reason, they want to live in their own homes or in small shared homes in their own communities.
Nobody needs an institution in order to have their needs responded to. It’s long past time we listen to the people who have direct and intimate knowledge about this.
They weren’t listened to before ... let’s listen now.
Linda Till
Sharon, Ontario
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