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Oaklands Regional Centre in Oakville in the late 1980's.
Her family asked for her to be moved there when Oaklands first opened because we thought it would be wonderful to
have her 10 minutes from home. We would be able to bring her home for Sunday dinner and see her more often. It
turned out to be a very bad experience.
When we did bring her home, we found that she became very upset when we tried to return her to Oaklands. From
the outset it was very apparent that the whole philosophy of Oaklands was very different from Huronia. Frances was
placed in a townhouse setting. She was expected to take part in the running of the household: setting the table,
making her bed, brushing her teeth, loading the washing machine, etc.
Since Frances functions at about a 1 year level, this was far beyond her capabilities. When she refused to perform
these duties, she was placed in a padded room. The irony is, her functioning level is so low that she could not even
make the connection that the reason she was placed in the padded room was because she failed to make her bed. In
order for a punishment or consequence to be effective, the individual must be able to make that connection.
She eventually became so depressed that she became gravely ill. She was placed in the centre's infirmary and stayed
there for the majority of her stay at Oaklands. She lay in bed all day, refusing to eat. My mother would arrive with
homemade soup, to find an uneaten sandwich next to her bed.
After months and months of this, Oaklands finally decided that Frances had to be moved back to Huronia. THANK GOD
FOR HURONIA. She has been happy ever since.
Frances' combined First Communion/Confirmation. It was always my mother's dream that Frances could receive her
Catholic sacraments so the HRC Chaplin arranged to bring in Father Ian from the Catholic church in town who
performed the ceremony in HRC's chapel. We hada huge party afterwards with many staff members attending. The
one picture shows Frances opening her gift from HRC staff.
