Painting a Captivating Diversion

Sometimes, improving quality of life requires a creative approach. In 2017 Andréa Fabricius, a Creative Arts Instructor at Perley Health, introduced the idea of tromp l'oeil illusions, otherwise known as diversion doors. The art installation painted on doors in a resident unit can promote activity, foster positive interactions and generally improve the quality of life for a person living with dementia.

Diversion doors are created by painting the exit doors on secure units. Secure units offer safe environments for residents with varying levels of dementia. The designs are intended to engage and entertain residents who can be exit-seeking residents. These art installations can lower anxiety and reduce the desire to linger by the exits, fiddling with the handles. By shifting residents' perception to something more familiar, the art on these doors can create a calmer, less anxiety-inducing environment that benefits everyone.

“My mother worked for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and she used to tell me about diversion doors in long-term care homes. They were mostly stickers or simple paintings.” Andréa remembers. She took that concept to her manager in 2017 and then improved on the idea. Andréa's vision for what diversion doors could be are so much more than stickers or a simple painting. Perley Health's first diversion doors were completed in 2017, on the Gatineau Residence secure units.

Andréa starts each project with a line drawing over a photo of the door which she uses to then create three water colour sketches. These sketches create a blueprint of design options that are shared with residents and family for their input. The community is asked to vote for the design of their choice. The selected design then becomes a spectacular hand-painted illusion on the door using high quality paints and finished with a varnish to protect the paint and allow for proper surface cleaning.

In late 2025 Andréa created new murals on Rideau 1 North, a secure Specialized Veterans Unit that opened in 2023. One of the new designs is a large poppy covering the door, with the door frame painted gold to mimic a framed artwork. The second door was painted like a bookshelf with a vase of poppies (styled after a familiar Vincent Van Gogh painting), a ship in a bottle, a wooden duck and many other items familiar to residents.

“It adds some colour and homeyness, it's recognizable.” says Andréa. “I also paint antiques, not modern furniture. I paint something that they might have had in their home; like a wooden duck, or a clock, vases or other knick-knacks we've all had in our houses.”

On the bookshelves, you can find trinkets, books, and flowers holding hidden connections to the people living on the unit. In one of the 2017 murals she included the Grey Cup to connect with the personal accomplishments of one resident. The new 2025 bookshelf design includes an unassuming ship in a bottle with a connection to a resident who used to build them model ships. Some of his creations are on display in the pub.

“Within that environment, the diversion doors pull in who the resident is,” says Samantha Hallgren, Psychogeriatric and Palliative Care Registered Nurse at Perley Health.

“They decrease exit seeking and decrease responsive behaviours. Residents aren't triggered to want to get out, to want to get out the door, so it offers this home environment of safe space and connection.”

Andréa Fabricius, Creative Arts Instructor, reveals the new art installation on Rideau 1 North. Look for some of the personal touches in her work.