Continuing Care

“I was too preoccupied to notice that my elderly parents needed help, and now I need help with assisting them, where do I get advice?”

“Our elderly loved one needs a hand with the tasks of daily life but is too stubborn to accept it, how do we help without being intrusive?”

“I’ve never been this lonely and I’d love to live in a retirement community but I don’t know where to start looking, the options are endless!” 

WATERLOO - An ambitious partnership involving the Ontario government, postsecondary sector and Schlegel Villages will develop a centre of excellence for research, training and innovation in senior health care and wellness at the University of Waterloo. The goal is to help Canada better prepare for an aging population.

For members of the so-called sandwich generation, fitting the needs of aging parents into an already busy life can be a recipe for severe indigestion.

Determining whether an elderly person can stay in their residence or needs more intensive care, finding an appropriate care home, dealing with health and financial issues - it's time-consuming and draining.

Samantha is a 62-year-old key account manager for a national manufacturing company. Financially speaking, Samantha and her husband have been doing well. They have fairly good salaries that afford them a few personal luxuries and trips throughout the year. Recently, Samantha’s husband George was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. This news has Samantha worrying about the care George will need and the strain this will place on their modest savings account and her earnings.

You can find any kind of retirement home in Ontario, but when it comes to senior living, there are several main misconceptions that are very popular. Often, these myths deter seniors from selecting a desirable retirement lifestyle, so it's important to address them.

As research has long proved, and as we’ve discussed in previous blog posts, one of the best ways to combat Alzheimer’s is to stay active mentally and socially. Senior Living Communities have long recognized this, which is why they provide ample organized activities. 

A recent article in the Economist (An age-old problem, May 28th, 2011) discusses the findings of a report from the Law Commission, an agency in Britain that helps Parliament “tidy up legislation”, in the inimitable words of the Economist. The report is focused on long term care and how to pay for it. At present, poor people have their care paid for by the state; wealthier people have to pay for it themselves, either by running down their savings or selling their home or both. This is a much different situation from Canada, where almost all long term care is paid for by the state.

British Columbia offers a diverse range of retirement destinations, from urban retirement communities in beautiful Vancouver, to small rural laid back senior villages in Nanaimo or Okanagan Valley. In this article I will share with you why some retirees choose Langley - a small city outside of Vancouver, which has many assisted living homes and services available.

There may come a time when our elderly relatives may need our help with the daily activities of being alive.  They may need a lot of help from us or, they may just need a little and this may be because of various things.  One of these things may be a disease or it may simply be because of the physical challenges that come with age.

Opening care homes in established neighbourhoods is seldom an easy task, as local residents often line-up with emotional appeals against new facilities, even when it's been demonstrated they have an overall benefit to the community.

Such appeals are so common and often so contentious that the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has crafted a strategy to combat NIMBY ("Not In My Backyard") opposition to the development of residential care homes.