Sisters reunited after three decades apart

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This article was published 15/07/2022 (1518 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Family is everything to Joanne Heppner, so she is elated her two sisters are back together after three decades away from each other due to their disabilities.

Myrna, 61, had been living at the Manitoba Development Centre (MDC) in Portage La Prairie since 1991, along with their brother, Duane. Her other sister, Cheryl, 65, had been living with her parents and eventually in a home run by Brandon Community Options.

But with MDC slated to close next year, Joanne, who lives in Whistler, B.C., worked with non-profit Brandon Community Options to bring Myrna home to Brandon to live with Cheryl.

With her sisters reunited, Joanne said she has fulfilled her parents’ wish to keep the family together. She’s now thinking of returning to Brandon to join her siblings, turning the reunion of two sisters into three.

“Whistler is beautiful, but my friends are here and I want to be closer to my sisters,” Joanne said of Brandon. “I’m thinking in a few years I’ll be moving back. Mom and Dad instilled in us that family is everything.”

Joanne, 67, explained Myrna had always lived at home with her parents but suffered a seizure that caused significant behavioural changes that warranted her being sent to MDC.

“My parents didn’t want her to go there, but that was the better option for her,” Joanne said. “She adjusted well there and was involved in a lot of activities in Portage. She was considered well-behaved and went out a lot.”

Cheryl never went to MDC, Joanne said. Their brother, Duane, moved there in 1995 and died in 2010 at the age of 54.

The sisters were never out of contact for long. Joanne said every summer she comes back to Brandon for get-togethers. While they have very different personalities, Joanne said they are still family and care for each other.

Previously, she’d never thought about them living together because they are so different. But as they got older, their temperaments changed.

She had already been told that if she ever wanted to move Myrna back to Brandon, the organization would be happy to do it. As the substitute decision maker for her siblings, she kept that in mind.

She also knew what her parents wanted, being heavily involved in the community themselves. Both were involved in the Association for Community Living in the 1960s and ’70s.

When it was announced MDC was going to close, the process began to get Myrna into a home. In 2020, Joanne contacted Brandon Community Options and began the process. The organization is dedicated to helping adults with intellectual disabilities, and Cheryl has been living in one of its homes since 2006.

Executive director Brenda Elmes was keen on getting Myrna reunited with Cheryl under their care.

“For Myrna, we knew a spot in one of their homes was going to open, it was just a matter of when,” Elmes said. “This past January, the time came and we moved her in with Cheryl.”

The address of the home isn’t being disclosed to protect the privacy of Cheryl and Myrna.

The closure of MDC has been in the works for years, Elmes said, and her organization is well-positioned to help soon-to-be former residents find homes because Brandon Community Options has been doing that sort of work since 1979.

There’s more to moving someone from an institutional setting to a more private home setting than just packing up and leaving, Elmes explained.

For people like Myrna, who have spent the bulk of their adult and senior lives in an institution, there will be an adjustment period to having more independence and responsibility.

“I like to impart on people that living in an institution is like living in a hospital,” Elmes said. “Food, for one. They don’t get to have their own food; it’s brought to them in meals. Now they have a fridge with things in it they can eat whenever they want, and that can be a little shocking. Moving from an institution has ripple effects on their life and it can take up to a year before someone fully adjusts.”

There are immediate positives, though, such as more control over their surroundings. Like in a hospital, institutions often have buzzers and bells going off constantly, Elmes said. The organization tries to help by giving residents ambient noisemakers, like rain sounds to muffle the harsher buzzer sounds.

Despite all the negative reputation institutions have garnered over the decades, Elmes said they give some people a structured and safe environment.

Most of the staff she and the organization have worked with have been wonderful. In Myrna’s case, she adjusted well and enjoyed her time there.

“She lived a full life at MDC, but with it closing and with her progress, we felt that she could live in the community with assistance and with her sister,” Elmes said. “We also make sure we match people so they are compatible to make it comfortable for everyone.”

»kmckinley@brandonsun.com

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