Size Matters. It’s the little things that add up

We have all been told over the years that “bigger is better,” this may not be the case when you or a loved one are considering a retirement community. In this day and age most retirement communities have computerized records of residents’ birthdays, their names are always on the chart, right along with allergies to medications, and so on. It is not uncommon to receive your birthday greeting and the “standard stuff” at almost any retirement residence. So, would you think that the experience at all homes would be generally the same?

“We couldn’t disagree with you more,” say Debbie Ouellette and Andrea Sullivan, General Managers of Hudson Manor and Maple City Residences. At properties our size we ‘know your story.’ Our staff get to know the life story of all of our residents, we are smaller properties which allows us to actively interact with our residents on a daily basis. We would never just get a birthday card dropped off at a room, we would hand deliver it and then plan a party afterwards. We take the time to listen to residents and love the intimate details of what they did before retirement, learning how big their families are, what their favourite snack is, or what kind of music they enjoy. They are our family; we hear the ups and downs of what is going on in their lives and genuinely take interest. That is something you can’t fake, and that is what makes us different.”

Ouellette and Sullivan go on to say, “Many of our residents come to us with big life changes going on. This could be in the form of a declining medical situation, selling their family home, recently losing their life partner, or in some cases all of these things could be happening at once. It is our job to make them feel welcome and help them through a brand new process. That is something that can’t be done with a fancy computer program or magic algorithm, we take the time to listen and get to “know their story.”

Ouellette is even taking the feedback from her residents a step further. Over time she has seen a gap in services in the standard model of retirement communities in the area. “It seems to be an all or nothing situation in most cases. When a resident checks into a retirement residence they automatically get signed up for every meal every day, housekeeping services every day, and many other daily services. What about a senior who wants to cook their own meals from time to time? What if they like to tidy their own room and have their own snacks on hand? We should be able to offer those more independent seniors an option, and rightfully discount the service for them.” Ouellette said, “I can’t go into too many details right now, but let’s just say there could be some exciting changes this summer.”

In this highly digitized age, bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to what size of retirement home for which you are looking. Forego the “big box” approach and drop by Hudson Manor or Maple City Residence, you’ll see the difference, and they will get to “know your story.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *