About Us

Welcome to IRIS.

A family driven, charitable, not-for-profit corporation that was established in October 1999.

IRIS was the vision of Frank and Alice Sheehan.  Frank invited the founding board members to a meeting in his dining room to talk about the lack of supportive housing and services in our community.  Everyone at the table had an immediate family member (child or sibling) with Persistent Serious Mental Illness (PSMI), and was worried about the future.  Who would take care of their loved ones when their aging family could no longer do it? There was nothing in the community to meet this need.  With the support of all three levels of government (Federal, Provincial, and Municipal) and a private developer, and many individuals, the vision became a reality in September 2002.

 

IRIS House served almost 200 individuals in the first 10 years of operation.  Many were supported after discharge from hospital and transitioned to live in the community.  Some remain at IRIS House and have successfully broken the cycle of repeated visits to hospital, saving millions in health, justice and emergency tax dollars in our community.   We require donations to fund our unique essential programs that have led to our success. Our current Chair of our Board of Directors is Richard Renaud. Richard was a founding board member serving as Vice-Chair recruited by Frank Sheehan and has been consistent in his devotion to our residents.

 

Programs

Case Management Program

staff person accompanies residents to medical appointments to share IRIS view of residents’ health, helps residents with apartment searches for those who are ready to move into independent living, finances and pensions and reviews residents’ condition and functional abilities.  The goal is to identify relapse so as to prevent or minimize hospitalization.  The monthly cost for this program is $ 3,000.00.

 

Recreation / Activities Program

Staff supervises group outings and day  trips, and activities that help residents enjoy their lives at IRIS and to give them skills for life after IRIS.  Daily activities are organized on-site such as poetry writing, music therapy, bingo and games.  There are outings for shopping, walks in the neighbourhood, bike rides, and swimming.  Each month there is a dance under the disco ball in our Sheehan Hall.  Many residents attend our monthly bus outing.  This last year they went to Duffy’s in Amherstburg, Holiday Beach, Colasanti’s, a Windsor Spitfire game, Harlem Globetrotters game, and movies at the mall.  Our staff person is a preceptor for nursing students from the University of Windsor.   It is important for our residents to meet future nurses to educate them about how adults with Persistent Serious Mental Illness (PSMI) learn to cope with the permanent symptoms of their illness in the community. The monthly cost of this program is $ 2,800.00

Resident Rehabilitation Work Program

Currently we have 35 residents working for $8.00 per hour in light housekeeping duties in the public areas of our building.  They sweep, mop floors, vacuum rugs, dust, wash windows, sort clothing donations, cut grass, rake leaves, garden and shovel snow.  This program teaches life skills and fosters a sense of responsibility and duties simulate those required to maintain an apartment.  Due to budget constraints each individual resident can only work 10 hours per month.  The total monthly budget for this program is $2,625.00. Ideally, each resident should be able to work 15 hours per month at a cost of $ 4,375.00.