What to know about this topic:
- Thought leadership at Sagecare 147 Elder Street
- What’s changed recently in how people search for senior care or dementia care?
- How has the industry changed post-pandemic?
- How do changes at Sagecare 147 Elder Street in recent years better serve seniors?
- What’s unique about therapies offered by Sagecare 147 Elder Street?
- What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing?
- How will Sagecare 147 Elder Street evolve in the coming years?
- How do you balance your focus on care with research into a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease?
- How would you like to see memory care and senior care evolve in the coming years?
- More about Sagecare
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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Thought leadership at Sagecare 147 Elder Street
Our [goal] always was to sustain that vision of a small home. Each pod is no more than a maximum of 22 residents in one section. Each section is its own home. But the biggest part is our overall staffing model. I always remind [inquiring families] that we have a one-to-three ratio in staffing.... So when the residents are there in the morning, if they didn't have breakfast, my PSWs will be able to observe that [and] my nurse can observe that.... and my director of care can know that because [they're] right there on the floor. So we look into each pod, because we need to stay on top of things.
In this interview, Sharon explains Sagecare’s unique memory care model and how its low staffing ratio is critical to their ability to provide exceptional care that properly meets clients’ needs. She also talks about the collaborative approach that’s emerging in the memory care and senior living industries.
2024 interview
What’s changed recently in how people search for senior care or dementia care?
[0:25]
Over the last decade or so in this field [and] the healthcare field in general, our clients are much more informed. They're doing their research because their goal always is—now more and more so, even than in the past—to try to be home as long as they can be.
Even when we are planning our future, or my parents, or even my grandparents, when they planned it, the whole vision was, ‘I'm going to stay home as long as I can.’ Right? So, how do I make that happen? Knowing and doing your education, knowing and understanding your resources, knowing and understanding what's in the community [and] accessible to you, and having a very strong voice.
So the second part would be the advocacy piece. My clients who are coming to our facility are not only informed, they know what they can access at home, but they also know what they can ask me for, what my facility should be able to provide. They’ve done their research within multiple options, whether that's bringing a PSW at home through community care, whether that's working with long term care facilities and starting that process because they know it's years of wait before they're going to get that bed.
And in between [that] spectrum, knowing how to bring in extra services to home or whether it's independent living, assisted living, memory care, they're knowledgeable of gamut, right? But they can also advocate for themselves. They can question and say, ‘I'm not willing to take this medication. I've done my research. So can we please have a second opinion on [this]?’ They’re more vocal because they have a deeper understanding.
And two, understanding what the changes that are occurring are with seniors. At one point, maybe cardiac was a very big focus, right? [Now] it's shifted to ‘how do I access retirement homes.’ [They’re] very [focused on] research.
How has the industry changed post-pandemic?
[2:35]
Post pandemic, that culture of competition, that culture of one retirement home [versus] the next has shifted into very much a vocal, united force. I feel like when we're advocating for the retirement sector, we're all doing it a lot more strongly together. We're identifying these gaps together. We're reaching out to each other a lot more for support.
So me being in a dementia care only facility, there are others. There's a lovely one in Grimsby, [in the] Stoney Creek area. There's multiple [places] around my area, and we all actually reach out to each other for support.
We’re talking [together], ‘Okay, I have this one client. They're having issues with PG&T [Public Guardian and Trustee–ed], but they also need a further resource with medications. How are you going about it?;
That networking, during the pandemic, was very much a forefront. That's evolved strongly to have a very strong single voice unit in Retirement Homes, which I'm enjoying a lot more.
How do changes at Sagecare 147 Elder Street in recent years better serve seniors?
[3:36]
So as I mentioned, we purchased one, two, three, four, now five homes, and each has built our new pod into it. So the intimacy piece, how propelled it is because our vision always was to sustain Ros's one-time vision of a small home. Each pod is no more than a maximum of 22 residents in one section. That one section, it's its own home.
But the biggest part is our overall staffing model. So when somebody comes in and does a tour with us, I always remind them that we're a one-to-three ratio in staffing, but that staffing is not just PSWs. That's my nurses, my PSW, my rec therapist, and my managers are involved [in care]. My kitchen, my housekeeping and management [are] above and beyond. But my nursing PSW and recs are who provide the care. We don't have dietary aids because we believe PSWs need to be able to monitor the intake.
Intake is very strongly impactful and correlated to how the behaviors occur. Many residents can’t advocate and say ‘I'm hungry,’ or ‘I'm feeling lethargic.’ We need to monitor that, right?
I’ll mention environmental impacts: nurses office, management office all face into that pod. So when the residents there in the morning, if they didn't have breakfast, my PSW will be able to observe that because they're on the floor. My nurse can observe that because she's on the floor, and my director of care can know that because she's right there on the floor. So we look into each pod, because we need to stay on top of things and ahead of the game.
What’s unique about therapies offered by Sagecare 147 Elder Street?
[5:23]
Over decades, we’ve learned that [for] somebody with Alzheimer's or dementia, the last senses to deplete or go are usually tactile and auditory. So [therapy here is ] very much around those two senses.
Music therapy, we do anywhere between five to six times a week. We have an external vendor, a Certified Music Therapist, who comes on. She does each pod for about an hour, depending [on] their performance changes.
So in [Pod] E [she] might [sing] the songs the residents are picking. They've made a list of what they want to hear that day, and they're singing along with it. They're dancing and moving.
On [Pod] D, she might already know what keeps them calm when she's singing. It's a learned experience, right? So she might sing a new song, and the pitch of it is setting my residents off. And then she has to alter that pitch [realizing] that okay, ‘This is what the residents enjoy, not that particular song.’
Then she gets to pod ABC…. where they're not able to vocalize. [There], the response is very much on watching their non-verbals, watching that when she's singing during mealtime. [In that part of the community], we usually try to do it around meals, so they are more alert and paying attention. We wanted her to see: is their intake increasing when they're listening to it? Or are they just grimacing and not really taking? So we're watching a lot more on the nonverbal. There’s [a lot] involved [in] music therapy.
What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing?
[6:56]
I think the biggest challenge for any for [anyone in the] retirement sector, especially a small operator, will be our Human Resources. We're competing with large hospitals. We're competing with large operators. We're competing with government agencies. We're definitely competing with community agencies? All these private RNs, PSW teams that have opened up, their pay rates are different than ours.
For private operators and small operators, yes, we are comparing with our competitors, but we're never going to be able to sustain a large hospital. We're never going to beat or even come near them or Long-term-care. The Human Resources [issue] will always be a challenge for [the] retirement sector.
How will Sagecare 147 Elder Street evolve in the coming years?
[7:56]
We believe very strongly in how we do the care. And we believe in the physical and the Human Resource model that we have. We are a higher staffing model. The majority of our income goes towards that, but we're passionate about that. So we're not going to touch that element.
My future game plan and my partner's future game plan is innovation. I really want to focus [on] the education and innovation piece. I'm noticing that more and more team members we’re bringing on are new graduates. Unfortunately, a lot of them graduated during the pandemic phase, where they didn't get the clinical opportunities. I’m getting more and more involved in the education piece, mentorship piece, trying to network with the colleges for PSW that are local.
[We’re] even reaching out into development of their program, working with the cardiac at BayCrest to say, ‘What are the innovations that are coming through?’ Let's help trial it. I want to be present for those [to] volunteer our facility for those things, trying new electronics and technology innovations.
So being very much on the education mentorship side because we feel that our model and our product is there and it's strong. Our waitlist speaks volumes for it. We always are in a high flex for those.
But what I need is the people I'm bringing on to have that knowledge base about dementia. The people who are coming in…. my resources, my team members [need to] have the right knowledge base and innovative tools to be successful.
How do you balance your focus on care with research into a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease?
[9:45]
Our hope is always with the researchers, right? Everybody is hoping for some resolution with this, or a medication that will delay this process or at least hinder this process on certain programs. If I use my memory care programs early enough, maybe I will not be in this bracket [of people with dementia].
The reality is the aging process is never going to change. You can invent 60,000 new medications and programs and games and technology. We're not going to stop the aging process.
I think working early enough with them, with those researchers, and being part of their trials and their knowledge base and being up front and ahead of that and being part of their research is what's going to keep us forward.
That's why my focus is more on innovation now, and more on research, and more on mentorship, because we do want to find a cure for this. We do want to find sustainability of…. a good quality of life, right? So that's not going to change for us.
It's the same as having cardiac medications, having many different other treatments for things…. It just means we improve the quality of life. So we’re one hundred percent hoping and banking for some cure, banking for some innovations that will improve the quality of life. And I hope we're right [at the forefront of that].
How would you like to see memory care and senior care evolve in the coming years?
[11:22]
My ideal would be the European village concept. I love the idea of having multiple facilities providing different elements of care, but working together. So for example, the Alzheimer's Society is doing certain activities. Then we can send a resident, engage with them, and then [have them] transition to us. [There are ] other facilities who are maybe not in the same price bracket as ours, but they're working with us as well, saying ‘This is what we can help you with.’ So that already [came] to the forefront in the pandemic, where we're starting to work a lot better together versus competitively.
So if a family member really [needs] our resources, knowing my external friends—I'm not going to call them competitors anymore—my friends who are providing different care or less costly care, I can say [to families], ‘I understand that we're not a home right now for you, but here's a community that might meet your needs right now,’ and do the referral. Then we do the referral. And we've got a lot of referrals from other retirement homes that say, ‘This particular client needs you.’ We've had many different retirement homes’ marketing team members come and take a look at our model.
I'm looking forward to working as a cohesive sector versus ‘This is my business.’ That is coming to the forefront a lot more, just like it did in Europe where everybody works as a team. We're getting there.
More about Sagecare
The exceptional memory care at Sagecare 147 Elder Street is rooted in Sharon’s deeply connected vision, as seen above. Learn more about Sagecare 147 Elder Street.
