Community and independence

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This article was published 18/10/2023 (750 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Within a few minutes, Connie Sworyk can hit the cinema, the pub and the salon.

So, too, can her neighbours with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Sworyk is an early adopter of Bergen Gardens, a first of its kind (for Manitoba) seniors’ residence.

Edison Properties, which manages apartments across Winnipeg, launched Bergen Gardens as its first assisted living site. It touts itself as the only Manitoba facility with a Level 3 personal care home designation — Level 4 personal care homes accept people with maximum dependence needs.

“Well, tomorrow, we’ve started canasta — and there’s six of us,” Sworyk said, walking to the residency’s community board, where — sure enough — a canasta sign-up sheet hung.

It’s between the theatre and the dining hall. Sworyk can choose when she eats; there isn’t a set time.

Both community and independence are emphasized in the facility, Edison Properties’ president noted.

Sworyk became one of the first in the 149 assisted living suites; she moved in last April. On Tuesday, she ate cake during Bergen Gardens’ official launch party.

A podium stood a short walk from a memory care “cottage” — there are four within Bergen Gardens, each containing 12 suites and common areas for people with dementia and similar illnesses.

“The whole aim is to keep life as normal as possible for the residents,” said Frank Koch-Schulte, president of Edison Properties.

Architects reviewed 175 environmental aspects and how the building could affect tenants, including those with dementia.

The result: circadian rhythm lighting, options for seniors to partake in meal preparation, spaces for people with dementia to mingle with seniors in assisted living. There’s a spa, an art studio, nurses dressed in casual clothing, an enclosed patio with a fire pit.

“A lot of senior care facilities can tend to, out of necessity, feel like a hospital,” Koch-Schulte said. “We’ve put as much effort as we can… to make it feel more like a home than a medical facility.”

Bergen Gardens was “a logical next step for Edison Properties,” Koch-Schulte continued.

The company’s senior population peaked a few years ago. Then, it dropped as tenants moved to care homes, Koch-Schulte said.

The migration pushed developers to begin Bergen Gardens — an idea that had percolated for years, according to Koch-Schulte.

It planned the North Kildonan residency during the COVID-19 pandemic. The world event led to the creation of a visitation room and more frequent hand sanitizer stations.

Edison Properties spent around $65 to $70 million on the new site, Koch-Schulte estimated.

It adopted new security measures, including artificial intelligence-powered cameras tracking falls.

“We’ve had a lot of positive reviews on that,” said Koch-Schulte.

The cameras alert caregivers and provide information on the type of fall. Staff can relay details instead of calling with vague news of “an incident,” Koch-Schulte stated.

Bergen Gardens’ security system also locks doors if someone from a memory care suite tries to leave when they aren’t supposed to, Koch-Schulte said.

“There’s essentially 24-hour assistance provided,” he said.

Assisted living and memory care packages start at $3,500 and $6,390 per month, respectively.

“We didn’t want to add an unnecessary constraint, financial constraint, on the project,” Koch-Schulte said.

The prices are needed to provide quality care, he added.

“We did try to keep those as appropriately priced as we could,” Koch-Schulte said. “(This is) a difficult market to get into — Edison feels it’s an important one to get right.”

It’s undetermined whether the company will erect more seniors’ facilities, Koch-Schulte said, adding Edison Properties is focused on Bergen Gardens.

The 1475 Molson St. building has roughly a quarter of its suites leased, according to Koch-Schulte.

“This facility helps break the stigma that dementia marks an end,” Jacob Ahiaegbe, director of the Long Term & Continuing Care Association of Manitoba, told a crowd Tuesday.

It “advances the true concept of quality of life,” he stated.

Genevieve Thompson, a University of Manitoba nursing professor who specializes in long-term care, toured Bergen Gardens weeks ago.

“I was blown away, actually, by the thoughtfulness of the design,” she said. “When I walked in (I) was like, ‘I’m in the Netherlands.’”

The European country — along with others — are far ahead of Manitoba in long-term care models, Thompson said.

She applauded Bergen Gardens’ homey atmosphere, and the connection its memory care cottages have to spaces like the pub and movie theatre.

“I don’t think any of us want to say ‘I’m never going to have another glass of wine or go to the movies or feel the snow on my face because I have… dementia,’” Thompson said.

Bergen Gardens’ cost can be prohibitive, she noted.

“We need to think about, ‘How can we do this within the public system?’” Thompson said. “This should be a model that’s available to anyone.”

Some aspects of Bergen Gardens can be incorporated into existing personal care homes, like getting residents involved with preparing meals, Thompson noted.

She visited the facility as part of research for Riverview Health Centre — the centre is undergoing a “culture change” to more person-directed living, and Thompson is helping the company evaluate its progress.

Change means adapting language — “residents aren’t admitted, they’re moving in” — and making assisted living “less institutional,” following an industry-wide trend, Thompson said.

An aging population may require more personal care home space, though the push is for people to age in their own homes, Thompson noted.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com