• Canada’s guide to retirement living and care
• Retirement homes
• Trends Shaping Retirement Living

Marlene Powner, Sifton Properties Ltd.

In our Inspiring Leaders Series, we interview visionaries driven by a passion for excellence that’s manifest in Canada’s most innovative retirement communities. 
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Retirement living leadership at Sifton

Retirement is just the next stage of your life! If you were into carpentry, we want to try and bring that into the programming within our homes, to really use where people have been, what they've done, or [to give them] things that they want to learn to do. We get them involved so that they're running programs themselves. Purposeful! They're a smart group of people that have lived an entire life!

Southwestern Ontario’s Sifton Properties is a builder specializing in creating a variety of homes and housing suitable for seniors.  Marlene explains Sifton’s multiple options and how they anticipate seniors’ needs now and into the future.

What’s changed in the senior living industry in the last few years?

People are older, coming into retirement homes. When I first started in the industry, it might have been, say, 87. [Now] it's at least 89 that they're coming in, so they're waiting. And most times, there's a lot of programs that the government is trying, to keep people in their home. So they're coming in at a later point in their life. 

We have a lot of different staff that are actually culturally diverse, which also means we're trying to attract residents of a different culture base. So we have to learn and understand and to offer more for those different cultural groups.

For example, last year, we did our “Cross Culture Journey.” We had special events throughout the year. One of them that we did was Diwali at one of our homes. And we brought in the East Indian culture. They did their color special event. The staff got involved with cultural costumes. There was [Indian] food. We're [offering] more choices to those different cultural bases.

How is Sifton Properties different from other retirement home companies?

[1:58]
Sifton Properties has different facets of new homes and apartment buildings, rentals. So it brings in a different flair. And for example, our newest home, Riverstone, was designed [with a unique] interior design. The designer came from our company, and she did a beautiful job. So it doesn't really really look like a lot of other, say, retirement homes. 

Traditionally, what we've done is you hire the person and the designer actually designs many of the homes, say, within a city. If you're going from one property to another, you can see a very similar look, whereas Riverstone looks different [from] any retirement home that I've seen in the city and around the city.

How has Sifton adapted, to better serve today’s seniors?

[2:59]
That's the other thing that I see. It's not “Now you retire, your life changes.” Retirement is just the next stage of your life! If you really were into carpentry, we'd really like to try and see if we can bring that into the programming within our homes, and really use where people have been, either what they've done or [to give them] things that they want to learn to do. 

Now we're trying to get them involved, that they're running programs themselves, purposeful. They're a smart group of people that have lived an entire life! So, if they were really good at something like, say, photography they could teach it in a class. Or maybe they travelled their whole life, maybe they want to do some travelogues in our homes. 

So we're trying to really ask our folks that come in, “Do you want to do some programming that involves you leading some of this programming?” And you'd be surprised!  One man wrote a book, and so there was programming at one of the homes, [where] he discussed his book with a group of people, and it was really quite successful! So, I think that purposeful programming is what we are seeing, certainly for us, as a trend that we want to move forward. 

We're really looking at our menus, that they offer choice. We do not do two set dining room times. It's open seating. People want choice, right? If you don't really want breakfast, go down to our little Express Buffet and you can help yourself. 

We're trying to really offer those choices. I think maybe yesteryear, people were okay with it [if] it's [restricted]. But as the Boomers age, they're going to want more. It's not just entertainment. We've made improvements with some of the cool cultural events we've done or the connections we've made with partnerships in the community…. I think it just changes the industry. I think it's something I've been proud of. I think that when you have different meal choices in your program [and] don’t forget it's not just Bingo, right? We want to be doing laughter yoga or drumming [or other new things that come out.] 

How will Sifton Properties’ model evolve?

[5:40]
We really like the model of the apartments, the seniors apartments, we offer some amenities within that. It's not the retirement home, it's an apartment, but it gives a bit of some of those offerings of some meals, some housekeeping, some programming. 

Two of our properties have villas. I think people are really hesitant to downsize. If you can build villas, they're more apt to move into those. Riverstone had 20. We filled those up, but there's 20 villas. [Each is] about 1,200 square feet, one floor [with] a couple of bedrooms. They have less meals or maybe less housekeeping, but they have their own feel of [being] a neighborhood to themselves. [There’s] a little bit of service [in] them. It's really a community [of] people [with] like-mindedness, but then we give you a little bit of support.

How will senior living evolve in the next few years?

[7:00]
Variety is the key! I think the boomers are definitely “You want something different than I want.” They're not a homogeneous group [or] that they're all the same. [Everyone has] their own unique identities. 

They're going to be taking care of themselves! So [they’ll want] the hair salon and esthetics, doing nails. All those things will be high priority. Oxygen bars [and] smoothie bars [for example].  They'll be wanting much more needs-driven and self-care things. They'll [want] yoga classes because that's what they've done, right? You’ll see those services more pronounced.

More about Sifton

Sifton Properties found in southwestern Ontario and the GTA provide a variety of lifestyle options to seniors. Learn more about Sifton Properties.