[Quadra-Hillside] Summit at Quadra Village seniors residence | 4-storeys | Under construction

Since we've been living the dream of a parent with dementia for almost 13 years I'll jump in if I may...

First assisted living is not dementia care: assisted living is just that - a facility for those with their mental faculties wholly or mostly intact but who because of physical challenges (immobility or at least very restricted mobility due to bad hips, arthritis, blindness etc., or simple aging and are unsteady on their feet) - require assistance in their day to day living activities. Therefore typically this is a safe, secure environment including a dining room & food and other personal services because they can't get out shopping for example, or even move about safely under their own steam. But otherwise they can communicate and interact normally with their fellow humans....

Dementia care is the polar opposite: those poor souls have little to zero cognitive function and therefore require - yes, an institution, regardless of what pretty terminology you wish to wrap it in - that provides all possible needs that a human being requires to exist: light, heat, food, warmth, security, and above all assistance with their most basic bodily functions including eating, combing their hair, bushing their teeth and 101 other things I won't mention but that you can easily imagine. Most of them not very pretty.

And TJV I don't quite know what to make of your comment. What are you talking about "not saving for retirement" and that this is what you get? Huh...?

This facility is primarily a dementia institution: if - if - when you are old and enfeebled but somehow manage to avoid any of the multiple forms of dementia then maybe having a separate this or that will be feasible, if its truly that important to you.

But what if when you are old and half blind and deaf and suffering from the ravages of dementia? Where exactly is it that you imagine you will be living? I'll tell you, assuming when and if you get to that state you're actually still breathing. You will very likely live in one of these places. I would dearly love to see the facility you mention BTW. It has to be an assisted living facility because I've seen just about all the dementia places over 13 years on the south island and many on the mainland, including the so-called Palace on the North Shore, straddling North and West Vancouver. 

The North Shore is home to many people with lots and lots of $$$$$ including a close friend's widowed and dementia-wracked father. In his prime he owned the second largest independent advertising firm in BC, and was a multi, multi millionaire who certainly didn't worry about 'saving for retirement'.

In his present "home", aka facility, aka institution, for which he pays $11,000/mo - chump change for him - rest very assured he does_not have a separate bedroom nor a separate living room regardless of how much they charge him.

Like the vast majority of these places - including the Quadra/Hillside one - he has one room (quite large in his case, naturally), and a separate bathroom. That's it. His flat screen TV is bolted to the wall opposite his bed. He has a 'kitchen' about ten feet from the bed, consisting of a tiny table with two chairs, and a shelving unit with a coffee machine and a microwave - neither of which he can operate so to be safe they simply unplug them when family isn't there to oversee him, since he can't figure out the concept of plugging them into a socket. Fortunately.

Of all the 'old age homes' I've seen there is one that I can recall that provides separate bedrooms - and it happens to be the most expensive such assisted living (not dementia care) facility in the south island region, quite beyond the means of most people - including the vast majority of those who have diligently "saved for retirement" all their working lives. Very few of even those people can bear the burden of the $7000+/month this particular facility charges its residents. So forgive me if your comments about 'saving for retirement' ring a bit hollow. Since the overwhelming majority of the population aren't multimillionaires, and a significant proportion will develop some form of dementia - regardless of how much money they saved for retirement - YES they will wind up in very likely something "like this place...".

And really when you are asleep 22/24 hours, drooling all over yourself, and the biggest expense on your unit is exemplified by the Depends you and everyone else is wearing all the time (not that you will notice or care), please explain why you would worry about a separate bedroom or living space? Because I can tell you from hard won experience your family and loved ones coming to visit you on your final lap of life, certainly won't give a rat's patoot. Nor will you.

We had the damned good fortune of having parents that not only saved for their declining years, but also a mother with a strong nursing pension, and a house/property near UVic that we were able to sell at near peak of a red hot real estate market. All combined, in addition to their investments, her care costs have been and will be easily met and absorbed and the estate will in fact make money. Not everyone however - including millions of hard working people who have also 'saved for retirement' - will have the advantages which we thankfully enjoyed and will continue to do so until her passing. Sometimes how and where someone spends their final years depends as much on good fortune and luck as much as good planning.....

I have now jumped off the soapbox.

 

But what if when you are old and half blind and deaf and suffering from the ravages of dementia? Where exactly is it that you imagine you will be living? I'll tell you, assuming when and if you get to that state you're actually still breathing. You will very likely live in one of these places.

I personally do not want to live under those conditions.

Edited by LJ, 04 April 2019 - 07:34 PM.

I personally do not want to live under those conditions.

Well there are thousands of people in this area alone that do; probably several hundred thousand (or more) across the country.

On her unit on Carey Road, our mother is one of only two people who can move under her own power, although we have to support her as she is naturally very unsteady on her feet. All the rest including at least two people barely 60 years old, are confined to wheel chairs and either sleep all day or stare vacantly out a window at the Sooke Hills.

There is another facility which will remain unnamed that we toured when we had to move her from Brentwood House, the first facility she went to after her dementia diagnosis in 2006.

Virtually every resident in this "other" local facility was either in a wheel chair or completely bedridden, and many were in the latter state under very heavy sedation.

In part that "drug solution" is used in those cases where the individual may hurt themselves or another resident. Unofficially though some staff will quietly tell you it is or has been occasionally used due to staff shortages in certain facilities. Obviously its far easier to keep tabs on patients when they're drugged and asleep. It was and remains one of the saddest things and places I've ever experienced in Victoria. Yet it is a reality for thousands if not millions across the country.

^I agree with you of the sadness of the whole thing, but for me and mine it is quality of life not quantity. I'm sure many of the folks in these institutions felt the same way but failed to take the necessary steps to avoid it.

^I agree with you of the sadness of the whole thing, but for me and mine it is quality of life not quantity. I'm sure many of the folks in these institutions felt the same way but failed to take the necessary steps to avoid it.

And what steps would that be???

Thanks for the write up, AllseeingEye. 

My family and I cared for our declining grandmother, and by far her biggest need was the presence of others. Even though we rented a wonderful house in her last years, I can't say she used much more than bed/kitchen/bathroom and probably couldn't ever recall what the house looked like. While I sympathize with aesthetics concerns like those from nparker, a care facility has to be equipped to meet the needs of its residents first and foremost. If looking like an Orwellian building means extra change for additional staff, it's well worth it.

Edited by Casual Kev, 05 April 2019 - 05:05 PM.

Thanks for the write up, AllseeingEye. 

My family and I cared for our declining grandmother, and by far her biggest need was the presence of others. Even though we rented a wonderful house in her last years, I can't say she used much more than bed/kitchen/bathroom and probably couldn't ever recall what the house looked like. While I sympathize with aesthetics concerns like those from nparker, a care facility has to be equipped to meet the needs of its residents first and foremost. If looking like an Orwellian building means extra change for additional staff, it's well worth it.

Yup, this. Financing aside, another challenge is attracting and retaining staff. Lets be blunt the 'day to day' of these care workers isn't happy times considering the tasks they are charged with. I know from our experience and talking to them stress is a major factor, and I their pay grade isn't exactly the gateway to getting filthy rich.

At the (Carey Rd) Campus of Care they are so concerned with dollars they actually changed the opening time of the small on site cafe and set it back an hour on weekends simply as a cost saving measure. Ditto for the front desk, which is no longer staffed Saturday and Sundays which brings with it its own set of problems particularly if a resident - or an elderly family visiting a resident - needs assistance.

An elderly fellow visiting his wife had car trouble one day; he didn't have BCAA nor a mobile phone, there was no one at the desk who could call out, so I used my phone and called them (I do have BCAA) and they very kindly came out and boosted his dead battery. He was 87 and in failing health, close to tears, and had no other local family. If I hadn't been there who knows what he would've done. Little wonder most of these facilities look to watch construction or aesthetic 'design' costs carefully. Remember too the bulk of the $ they do have is earmarked for specialty medical and other related support equipment, and security measures and systems, which are paramount particularly in a dementia facility.

...While I sympathize with aesthetics concerns like those from nparker, a care facility has to be equipped to meet the needs of its residents first and foremost...

I am at a loss as to how having cheap/ugly exterior finishes will enable the staff at Summit to better meet the needs of its residents.

This building was to have been completed by the end of 2019. Are construction crews still on-site?

It's furnished and decorated inside but crews are still working.

Does anyone have any photo updates? Would love to see what it looks like!

It's the most un-photographed major project on this forum. 

It's the most un-photographed major project on this forum. 

Perhaps for a reason.

This building was to have been completed by the end of 2019. Are construction crews still on-site?

According to the November 2019 newsletter, move-in has been delayed until April 24, 2020

 

It's the most un-photographed major project on this forum.

Which is quite an accomplishment.

Ok thanks! It was originally planned for early 2019 completion, then late 2019, now end of April. It's busy out there, that's for sure. Work began in 2016 with minimal excavation from what I recall.

Perhaps for a reason.

I disagree with your negativity. 

It's designed by dHK (very high level firm) and for a medical building: function before design. 

I disagree with your negativity...

With some moderate shifts in cladding choices, it could easily have been more aesthetically pleasing from the outside without sacrificing any functionality. That's not being negative; it's stating a fact.

With some moderate shifts in cladding choices, it could easily have been more aesthetically pleasing from the outside without sacrificing any functionality. That's not being negative; it's stating a fact.

Do you not think finishing cost money can be put towards better uses - like, I dunno - patient care & needs?

Do you not think finishing cost money can be put towards better uses - like, I dunno - patient care & needs?

Yup, and as I've argued before on this topic. "Health" in BC chews up 50% + of the provincial budget; specialized facilities like this or the Campus of Care on Carey Rd are beyond worth their weight in gold in terms of the role and function they play in a society that increasingly requires them.

"Design" comes waaaaay down a very long list in terms of the spending of those precious dollars. "Design" for those families unfortunate enough to require these facilities, like ours going on 13 years now, is only relevant insofar as it pertains to design that ensures the well being of the residents from a diagnostic, lifestyle, safety and security standpoint.

And if that means outside non-resident sensibilities have to 'suffer' as a consequence of the structure looking too institutional, so be it. Rest very assured your 'suffering' is inconsequential to those afflicted with any number of conditions that put them in these places in the first place. Perhaps those folks will understand when one day they have to admit and then watch a beloved parent or a spouse or a sibling decline from being a happy healthy contributing member of society to becoming a shell of a human being, doing nothing more than starting vacantly out a window while their mental and bodily functions are destroyed from within, to the point where the changing of their diapers is the highlight of their day. Rest assured at that point you'll care not one iota what color the building is, or whether is has x or y cladding.