A rendering of Parkland Ancaster, a senior living community in Ancaster, Ont. that will provide a continuum of care for residents. The design, inspired by country clubs and cruise ships, includes amenities such as a multi-use theatre, café and greenhouse.Shannex
Parkland Ancaster is part of a new generation of senior living communities. Its cluster of low-rise buildings on a campus-like 11 acres in the southwest corner of Hamilton, Ont., includes Park Boulevard with a multi-use theatre and worship space, a café, greenhouse and sunroom, spa and lounge with indoor and outdoor seating. It’s within walking distance of a golf course and has transportation service to grocery stores and shopping plazas.
Country clubs and cruise ships were among the inspirations, says Jason Shannon president of Shannex Inc., which, over the past 35 years, has designed and built seniors residential communities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario. “Retirement living has seen an evolution from a more nursing home approach to today where we offer a full spectrum of lifestyle options,” he says.
The rental residential buildings in Ancaster include 1,200-square-foot two-bedroom apartments for independent living and Tiffany Hall, a building with a range of assisted-care options. “We provide a continuum of care, so once residents are in the community, they don’t have to worry about having to move anywhere else,” Mr. Shannon says.
There is an opportunity to co-ordinate the needed support to high-density communities of older adults that are pre-existing, as well as being purpose-built by developers.
— Jen Recknagel, director of innovation and design, NORC Innovation Centre
The ground floor of Park Boulevard at Tiffany Hall is designed to resemble a main street in a small Ontario town. “We hope to sell club memberships to people in the community who may not be living with us, so they can come and enjoy the amenities and dine in the restaurants,” says Mr. Shannon. “We see this as an orbit of community support for the residents.”
Community connections
It’s part of a rethinking of aging in place as the Canadian population gets greyer. Nearly eight million Canadians are 65 or older, according to Statistics Canada. The number of Canadians over 85 doubled between 2001 and 2021 and could triple again by 2046.
A recent survey by the National Institute on Ageing and Canadian Medical Association survey found 96 per cent of respondents over 65 “would do everything they can” to avoid moving into an institutional setting. But the demand from Canadians wanting to age in their homes and communities for as long as possible has outpaced the health, social and housing infrastructure needed to do so.
Staying connected to familiar aspects of a community is important both for seniors and the people who provide support for them, says Jen Recknagel, senior design lead and director of innovation and design of the NORC Innovation Centre, a part of Toronto’s University Health Network OpenLab.
Jen Recknagel, senior design lead and director of innovation and design of the NORC Innovation Centre says staying connected to familiar aspects of a community is important both for seniors and the people who provide support for them.Thomas Bollmann
The centre’s Ontario-wide survey identified 1,941 residential buildings and neighbourhoods as naturally occurring retirement communities – NORCs – housing a total of 217,000 older adults, nearly three times higher than the 75,000 people in Ontario living in long-term care homes.
Long-term homes are essential, Ms. Recknagel says. “But rather than building more institutions that cost a ton of money and no one really wants to go to, can we rethink supports to create more communities where people can age in place? There is an opportunity to co-ordinate the needed support to high-density communities of older adults that are pre-existing, as well as being purpose-built by developers.”
“We should think about what kind of amenities and health and well-being services and flexible spaces for people to gather to help people stay in their homes as long as possible,” she adds. “There can be community kitchens where people can have meals together, lending libraries and lobbies that are not just a hallway but a place that people use and enjoy socializing in.”
With their high density of older adults, NORCs provide an ideal opportunity to realign the delivery of existing health and daily activity support services in a more efficient way, says Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy of the Toronto-based National Institute on Aging, which recently published a study titled Ageing in the Right Place.
Efficiency in caregiving
Without a central registry, caregivers from several agencies may end up spending hours driving between appointments that could be more effectively handled by a team from one agency dedicated to a specific building or community with a high density of seniors needing care, Dr. Sinha says.
This would create infrastructure benefits in easing pressure on roads, parking and public transportation and be better for the environment.
“And we have tens of thousands of people on wait lists to get into long-term care facilities. If they can’t get the care they require in their homes, they end up long-term in hospitals and that’s incredibly costly and straining on our health care system,” he explains.
Canada, where provinces allocate an average of just 33 per cent of their long-term care budgets to institutions rather than community care, lags behind many European countries which budget half or more on community senior care, the NIA study found. Shifting the focus to community care can result in large savings, Dr. Sinha says.
Denmark, for example, faced demographic and fiscal issues similar to those in Canada, but made it a priority in the 1990s to develop more assisted living supports in homes and communities. The study found that within 10 years, the country had achieved a 12-per-cent overall reduction in its long-term care spending. While freeing up thousands of hospital beds used for geriatric care, it managed to avoid the development of any new long-term care homes for close to 20 years.
“I think all this is possible here,” says Dr. Sinha. “It just takes political will and figuring out mechanisms for neighbourhood care. We’ve made things more complicated than they need to be.”