Forest Valley Terrace has a new CEO and his name is Eduardo Martinez. Originally from Cancun Mexico, Martinez is the former executive director of the Teleton Foundation, which assists in rehabilitating children with physical disa-bilities in Cancun and the surrounding area.

As the man in charge, Martinez oversaw a staff of 90 employees and over 200 volunteers. In his final year with the foun-dation, they managed to rehabilitate more than 1,000 children.

Last summer, Martinez and his wife made the decision to move to Ottawa with their three children. His wife completed her Masters degree at the University of Laval in Québec City and his a sister lives in Toronto. He also has two brothers living in Canada, one in Montréal and one in Saskatchewan.

The couple chose Ottawa to live because of its central location and the quality of life it has to offer.

Shortly after arriving in Canada, Martinez saw a job posting for the CEO position at Forest Valley Terrace, a Symphony Senior Living facility that specializes in taking care of residents with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Although he had never worked in the retirement or senior care industry before, Martinez thought his experience in running a large social service foundation would be a good fit when it came to taking on the challenge of running Forest Valley.

He was also extremely impressed with the company and its owner and founder Lisa Brush, who he has met with several times.

“The company is run like a family. I was impressed with how everyone is very involved from the CEO to everyone on the staff. They’re very inclusive,” says Martinez.

In assuming the responsibilities of CEO, Martinez is taking over the reins from the outgoing CEO Glenese Francis Wright, who is now in charge of admissions for all the Symphony Senior Living communities in Ottawa.

Martinez has been focused on two key areas in his first few weeks at Forest Valley Terrace. The first is to get to know his staff and look for areas where they can improve the service to their clients. And the second is to increase the number of clients who are living there.

Martinez plans to improve their marketing efforts over the coming weeks and months starting with a series of educational events called Dementia Talks. The first session is being held on March 19 at 4 p.m. The event is free and includes a complimentary cocktail reception. Tickets are available at https://dementiatalksfvt.eventbrite.ca.

Of course, you can also book a one-on-one session at Forrest Valley Terrace to learn more about the facility and how they can best care for your loved one living with dementia. You can visit their website at www.forestvalleyterrace.com.