People of Perley - Michelle Proulx

Michelle Proulx did not set out to build a career in seniors' care. In fact, it was the one area she was sure she would avoid. 

“I started my career not wanting to work with seniors,” she says. “It was an area people tended to avoid. It was also one of those areas where I knew, as an emotionally-driven person, it would be difficult.”

More than 20 years later, Michelle is the Manager of Therapeutic Recreation and Creative Arts at Perley Health, a role she has held since 2024. It's a position that brings together her passion for people, creativity, and connection. 

Michelle's career path began at Algonquin College, where she initially enrolled in the radio broadcasting program. “I didn't have a voice for on-air,” she laughs. “The promotional side I was really good at.” That realization led her to the Recreation and Leisure Services program and, eventually, to her first job in long-term care. 

“My résumé ended up on the desk of a manager in long term care,” she says. “Getting a full-time job right out of college was golden.” From there, everything changed. “I fell in love with working in long term care and haven't looked back.” 

That love was cemented early in her career during a moment she still carries with her. She was with a resident who was nearing the end of life; no loved ones were present. “I held their hand, and I was there when they took their last breath,” she recalls. “I learned at that point that while I was experiencing the grief of their death – and I did have a difficult time with it at first – it's what made me and other recreation professionals so good at our job.”

In that difficult moment, music played a central role. “I wanted to sing with them and sing for them,” she says. The song that came to her mind was “It's a Long Way to Tipperary,” a famous British music hall song from 1912 about a homesick Irishman in London missing his sweetheart in Tipperary, Ireland.

That song also reflects Michelle's deep connection to veterans, as shaped by her own family history. Her grandfather was an engineer and her grandmother was a war bride. Both later lived at Perley. Her father and brother also served in the military. 

“As someone who has never served myself, this is my way of giving back to the veterans, and to the military service and to Canada as a country,” says Michelle.  

Growing up in a long-serving military family taught Michelle how to  connect quickly and meaningfully with people on a personal level. And it's those personal ties that have made working at Perley especially meaningful.

One of her most memorable moments at Perley came in the wood studio, watching veteran residents at work. “I immediately thought of my grandfather and father who were carpenters,” she says. When the creative arts instructors remembered her grandfather years after his passing, it made a lasting impact on her.

“Perley Health is an absolute gem,” Michelle says. “There is nothing like Perley Health.” She points to the integration of therapeutic recreation and creative arts as something special. “This is what long-term care should be, and I've always dreamed it can be.”

Michelle sees education and advocacy as the next frontier of her work.“I love pushing the next generation of recreation programmers and artists forward,” she says. Her hope is to see stronger standards of practice across the sector and expanded access to creative arts for all residents. 

Above all, it is the people who complete the picture for Michelle. “Perley Health is a big family,” she says. “That little smile, that ‘Hello how are you doing today?' It's not a platitude. It truly is caring.”

“As someone who has never served myself, this is my way of giving back to the veterans, and to the military service and to Canada as a country,” Michelle Proulx, Manager, Therapeutic Recreation and Creative Arts