Residential Care Homes

City Lights takes a look at how the BC Health Care System works when assisting the elderly through the different phases of living and retirement, and what your options are once you are at a point in your life when you feel that you need to living in a care facility.

Special Care Homes and Community Residences in the province of New Brunswick must meet the criteria outlined and approved by the Minister of Social Development under the Family Services Act in order to become licensed. Approvals for such residential facilities are granted for up to one year at which time operators must reapply to the Department of Social Development and inspection by all necessary departments is mandatory. The complete standards and procedures are explained on the Government of New Brunswick website under Senior and Healthy Aging Secretariat.

Each of the provinces of Canada is unique in the way that support and funding for housing, home care and other services specific to seniors is provided and managed.
In several of the provinces, funding for assisted living facilities and seniors’ communities is available at the provincial level while in some of the provinces assistance is based upon the individual resident and the services that they require.

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.

The Okanagan Valley is definitively one of the best places in Canada to retire. This beautiful region is located in the interior of the British Columbia, about 5 hours by car from Vancouver, BC. The Okanagan offers year-round natural beauty with over 2000 hours of sunshine each year. The winter is quite mild, with some snow, but it's never too cold compared to most of Canada.

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. 

In every stage of your life there is the possibility that you may require some sort of medical support that is specialized for your age group. The medical support that an infant might require is very much different from that required by an adolescent or young adult. When a person reaches the later years of their life they may require daily care that comes in the form of supportive living services.