Duane Hicks
Assisted living continues to be focus of hard work by district residents dedicated to providing places to live for seniors who need assistance with daily living.
During the annual general meeting of the Rainy River District Municipal Association on Saturday in Emo, Joyce Meyers, co-chair of the Emo and Area Assisted Living Group, noted a recent report by the North West Local Health Integration Network outlines a comprehensive plan for seniors over the next three years.
This, in turn, has piqued the interest of the group.
The plan focuses on long-term care, assisted living services, and community support services, and specifically points out the implementation of assisted living services for seniors, including six spots in Emo in 2015-16 and another six in 2016-17.
“Our related questions are: can these 12 units for Emo be developed at the same time, instead of dividing it up six and six?” wondered Meyers.
“And secondly, where is the logical place for these units?
“Using this information, our committee is currently focused on developing a partnership between Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Housing,” Meyers added.
“We need help pressuring the LHIN and the provincial and federal funders, who need to work together to accomplish our common goal.”
Meyers said the Emo and Area Assisted Living Group is looking at exploring different avenues.
Ideally, it would like to build a new assisted living facility but the LHIN plan focuses on making use of existing buildings.
“We will continue to lobby and work for the needs of our community,” Meyers vowed.
“With your help, these needs can be met as soon as possible.”
The Emo group also is dedicated to making any assisted living it ends up with as being “geared-to-income” so it is affordable to everyone.
Meyers said the group was formed last April after assisted living was seen as a need in Emo.
After holding its initial meeting at the Legion there, the small group attended a workshop held by the LHIN to gain information and provide input for a plan to improve communication, partnerships, and integration of health services in the region.
The committee then began meeting weekly, conducted a survey, held public meetings, and otherwise made itself known.
Several members toured assisted living facilities in Steinbach, Man. and Thunder Bay.
Four building sites were identified and researched in Emo, and architects have been contacted for concept drawings.
The group has worked with the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board, the Rainy River Future Development Corp., Golden Age Manor residents and board, and First Nations sharing their need for assisted living.
They have completed terms of reference for their committee, which now meets twice a month.
Working committee meetings are held every other week.
“So as you can realize, we’ve been very busy, motivated by our vision for necessary accommodation for many of our friends and family,” said Meyers.
The Fort Frances Assisted Living Action Group,
meanwhile, reported it is working with Cherish Community Living Inc., a private developer with the experience, expertise, and financial backing to not only develop an assisted living/retirement living community but to manage the services provided afterwards
A.L.A.G. member Bob Armit said Cherish CEO Micky Fleming is an innovator who has a clear understanding of the customer.
He noted Fleming has focused her energy on changing the seniors’ housing industry and people’s views of older people—and this aligns with A.L.A.G.’s philosophy.
“When I look around this room, I see quite a lot of grey hair,” said Armit. “And if the grey-haired people weren’t involved in their community, we’d have some serious problems.”
He added seniors want to contribute; they don’t want to sit in the background.
Armit said Cherish offers a unique style of community living—a community within a community. Their model uses a holistic approach “where laughter is a part of every day.”
“People can enjoy gardening, and bring their pets,” he noted. “Food is a big part of their success.
“They insist on the highest-quality food—fresh, homemade, real meals are served daily, along with a multitude of healthy and freshly-made snacks.”
Cherish offers non-institutional residences, where people can enjoy their independence and enjoy social networking, with opportunities for physical, mental, and spiritual growth.
Armit said the aim is to offer “clustered living,” where residents can live independently and, as they age, acquire more services without having to move from their apartment, which they either may rent or own, in the assisted living/retirement living community.
He noted the main issue currently is acquiring the right property.
“You need location, location, location,” Armit stressed. “We’ve been working at that for four years now.
“Whether we will ever succeed, we don’t know, but certainly that has to be number-one on our agenda,” he remarked.
“There’s opportunities, possibilities,” Armit added. “Hopefully it will be resolved in the next few months.”
Cherish will use local contractors and businesses, and hopefully hire locals for future employees.
“A.L.A.G. continues to listen to what respondents told us in the first and subsequent surveys,” noted member Diane Maxey.
“We are determined to see the accommodations and services that people of our district are telling us that they want, need, and deserve,” she vowed.
Maxey also said the family of the late Connie Cuthbertson set up an in memoriam fund, to be held in trust in her honour, until such time that A.L.A.G.’s project is sufficiently in motion.
“Together, A.L.A.G. and Cherish will move ahead to develop an innovative, cost-effective option for people in our district—an option that is based on what people of our area are telling us that they want and need,” said Maxey.
“There is no one-size-fits-all for assisted living/retirement living,” she noted.
“We believe that without the Cherish-type of an assisted living/retirement living community in Rainy River District, our family, friends and neighbours will continue to move to the communities that have already recognized the need and the business opportunity that an assisted living/retirement community provides.
“When seniors leave, they take their wallets with them,” Maxey said. “Many have left already; others continue to leave or are waiting to leave.
“What will you do when you are personally faced with this problem?” she asked.
