An Oro-Medonte woman has received provincial recognition for the hundreds of hours she has spent volunteering at a long-term care home.
Joan Goldsmith was one of 15 people who received an Ontario Senior Achievement Award during a virtual ceremony Friday, presented by Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell and Raymond Cho, minister for seniors and accessibility.
Created in 1987, the recognition goes to those 65 and older who have made significant contributions to their communities.
“I’m very honoured,” Goldsmith said.
She has volunteered for more than 45 years. Seven of those have been spent at Orillia’s Trillium Manor, where she has logged more than 450 volunteer hours.
Much of her focus over the years has been on visiting with veterans at the Grace Avenue long-term care facility.
“I love these folks,” she said. “Not only do I visit with the veterans; I visit with everybody I can.”
When she began volunteering at Trillium Manor, there were 17 veterans. Now, she said, there are three.
“It does hurt when we’ve lost those guys,” she said. “It’s a grieving process that you go through because, week after week, you see them.”
Being able to spend time with veterans and other residents is at least as fulfilling for Goldsmith as it is for them.
“I feel so much positive energy meeting these folks and listening to their stories. I feel very richly paid for what I do,” she said. “Each resident is a different personality with a different history.”
The visits with veterans started as part of a program created by Reta Mulholland Keeler at the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans (ANAF), Unit 400. Goldsmith is still a member of that organization.
She makes sure each veteran who moves into Trillium Manor is recognized with a plaque and a poppy on the door.
Her service goes beyond visiting. She has also held fundraisers for the home and, when she wasn’t allowed in because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she would work on the gardens outside.
Those are some of the reasons Crystal Rosewell nominated Goldsmith for the award.
“She has a big heart and a contagious personality,” said Rosewell, program and support services supervisor at Trillium Manor.
Through plant sales, Goldsmith helped raise almost $3,000 to go toward a bus for residents. She has also organized dinners at the ANAF club for veterans staying at Trillium Manor and has helped train new volunteers.
What stands out most to Rosewell is Goldsmith’s “one-to-one interactions that she has with people.”
“It makes them feel important because they have somebody who is focused on them and really listens to them,” she said.
Goldsmith’s work with veterans has been invaluable, Rosewell added.
“Some of our veterans don’t feel like they contributed much to the war effort if what they did was in the background, but Joan validates them,” she said.
Goldsmith has bonded not only with the people, but also the place.
“It’s like I belong there,” she said.
She encourages other people to volunteer however they can. More people would, she said, “if they knew what they got in return.”
She wasn’t referring to recognition like the award she received Friday.
“It is really special, but it’s not why I do it,” she said.
