Interview with Chartwell Dorchester Terrace Retirement Community management, Chantelle Bancroft

I love working with seniors. I’ve been at Dorchester Terrace for about two years now. It’s my first role where I have been working with seniors, and I absolutely love it. I love our residents and dealing with them on a day-to-day basis.

I absolutely love helping people get settled in their new home. There’s just a little something special about helping them transition into our home, getting settled, and getting through those first few weeks, which can be really tough. It’s just a really great feeling to help them get settled.

I had one resident who was very hesitant about moving in. He kind of went back and forth. He was nervous about leaving his home. He came for a short stay. He knew he liked it. But again, there’s always that struggle of, well, I don’t want to leave my home.

He ended up moving in shortly after his trial stay. One of the first days that he was out, he said, "I just can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner." He was so happy to be able to sit with other people at lunch and not eat the meals alone. He really loved to play the organ, and we have an organ here, so quite often he was there playing that. 

He had such a great transition and such a great move that it really set the bar. It was one of my first move-ins when I had started there, and it was such a really good feeling to see him settle so well and just be so happy in his new home.

I was working within a different division within Sifton doing rentals with townhouses and apartments, and I was looking for a change. I knew I wanted to work with customers and wanted it to be a customer-focused job. This position came up, and I was kind of all over it, and it just ended up being the perfect fit.

We go above and beyond to make sure that they are settling in okay. Everything from doing daily visits to setting them up with other residents that have been there for a while and know the building in and out, know our recreational program, and that sort of stuff.

Keeping connected with their family is a very big one right now. Our means of communicating are changing a bit, and for some seniors, that can be quite scary. We have such a fantastic team that is kind of working around the clock to make sure the phone calls are happening, the FaceTimes are happening, and just trying to keep them as connected.

It is a very busy role. Everything from meeting with family members, meeting with potential residents, going out into the community, making business relationships that way, and doing drop-offs at the hospitals. There are so many different aspects of the job. It definitely keeps you busy. Every day is something new and every day is different, which keeps it fun and entertaining.

Our communication has always been absolutely spectacular. We make sure we’re getting phone numbers, we have email addresses, and we send emails out to our residents as well as resident family members. Our phone lines are always open. There’s always someone here to get hold of if you need to in an emergency. Things from email to Skype to Zoom to FaceTime, we do it all. We really try to keep all lines of communication open because it really is important always.

We’re definitely a very country rural setting. We’re just off the 401 in Dorchester, right outside of London. We’re a great spot for anyone who has family kind of along the 401 corridor just because we are so close. A lot of the residents that we get are from London, Ingersoll, Tilsonburg, and those areas.

We have a very unique building. It’s very inviting, very cozy, and very homey. We have living spaces on every single floor, so it really encourages our residents to use our entire home, as opposed to just being kind of stuck on the floor that they’re living on.

We definitely have that small city or small farming community vibe. A lot of our residents know each other, know their neighbors, and are very open and very welcoming to anyone who’s coming in the building. We have farming land right behind us. We’re on a very quiet street in Dorchester. It’s just that small, cozy vibe that you get in a small city.

Anyone who has lived in that small city setting can find it very overwhelming to look at someplace that’s a little bit larger, where there’s just so much commotion and so much going on. We also find that some of the people who have lived in bigger cities their entire lives just want a slower pace for retirement. They want something quiet and cozy, and that’s really where we shine through.

We have our own shuttle bus here. It goes out Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So three times a week they’re going out into the community doing things like errands, getting groceries, and little snacks for the room.

We go to the beach, we go shopping into London, shopping into Tillsonburg. We kind of go all over. It’s really based on what the residents want to do. When the weather gets not so nice, if they want to go to the theater, that’s something that we can book. Residents just sign up and they’re able to go and do that.

It’s a big range. Some of our residents are fully independent. They’re still driving, they’re still going on trips, and they’re still doing all of those things. They’re free to do those things and don’t have to worry about their house, the yard work, the cooking, the cleaning, or who’s going to look after their house.

We also have care services in place that really help them age in place. If you’re very independent right now, what does it look like in five years? We have care staff on site 24 hours a day, RPNs and PSWs. We can do everything from helping get ready in the morning to getting ready for bed at the end of the day.

If mobility is a concern, we can help you get to and from the dining room, help with medications, and showers. There are so many different levels of care that we can provide. A good majority of our residents are still very independent, but they know that they can age in place here, knowing that that level of care is available when they need it.

The food is a really big deal, regardless of where you go. Especially being in a farming community, residents expect a level of local. They want stuff that was grown down the road, and we definitely try to facilitate that. We try to get everything made in Ontario or grown in Ontario. We try to keep as much local as possible.

We also try to give as many options as possible. Our menu changes on a monthly basis, and we always have options. There’ll be two options for lunch, two options for dinner, and then you also have a separate à la carte menu that you can order from as well. We pull from all of the food groups, work with the Canadian Food Guide.

I absolutely love the Reuben sandwich, which is a very different choice, but every time I’m asked, I always answer that because it is just absolutely delicious.

We have a fantastic recreational program. We have anywhere from five to eight activities per day, so there’s a ton going on. We have everything from cards, bingo, bowling, and shuffleboard. There are a ton of different things that are available.

We do a program called Fit Minds. It is one that really stimulates your brain, which we find a lot of our residents absolutely enjoy, especially as they’re aging. We also have exercise almost every single day.

We have a lady that does chair yoga. Our recreation manager does some exercise as well, and then on the odd day there’s a video. Exercise is a big one here. We know that keeping active will keep you healthy, so it’s something that we definitely encourage.

It really is every person helping each other. All of our staff members here, our slogan is, what can we do to go out of our way to make someone else’s day better? You definitely feel that here. Everyone is very helpful, very nurturing, even our residents.

When someone new moves in, you can see our existing residents say, "Do you know where you’re going? Do you need help with that?" They’re just so loving, so nurturing. I think it really goes with that small town vibe, where, regardless of whether you’re new or not, everyone is a neighbor. It really gives an absolutely lovely vibe in the home here.

We have a resident ambassador program here. We find that normally that’s the one that kind of goes over the best. Any of our team here can say we understand and we sympathize, but they don’t always feel that unless you’re in it yourselves. So we do have a number of programs that we run for new residents. We do a new residents tea so that all the new residents can get to know each other, share their stories, their struggles, and their feelings.

When someone moves in, we match them with a resident ambassador. It’s someone who’s been here, who knows the building, who knows the programming, and who is just really a great member of our home. They meet with them a few times just to go over all of the little things and let them know that yes, you might be new here, but you have a friend in me.

That’s something that our wellness team is absolutely fantastic with. We work in conjunction with the LHIN if someone has to go to long-term care, or this is just not the right fit for them anymore. Our wellness team works absolutely beautifully with anyone they need to coordinate with. They can work with the family, they can give recommendations to other spots that might be a better fit, and they work with the LHIN to get the paperwork and all of that done. They also talk to the resident and let them know that everything will be okay, that they’re going to be in great hands, and they give that emotional support as well.

There has been a lot of that with COVID and everything that’s transpired over the last six months. But when we’re talking about the difference between retirement living and that stigma that comes along with it, I always like to showcase our home as really just senior apartment living, where you have your own room, your own space, your TV, your phone, and all of that stuff comes with you.

It’s things that are yours, your furniture, but you don’t have to worry about the cooking and the cleaning. That stuff is taken off your plate, and you can just get back to really enjoying life. What do you like to do for fun? We have something on our recreational calendar for everyone. It’s just a matter of letting go of all the responsibilities that come with home owning and all of the cooking and cleaning, and letting someone else do it, and just enjoy yourself.

Absolutely. We are always open to suggestions. With the bus, we have so much flexibility in where we’re able to go. We have a new resident that moved in that wants to start line dancing, so we’re going to get a line dancing group going.

We are not an overly large home, there’s just so much opportunity for if we know someone is really interested in something and we haven’t had it on the calendar, well, let’s try it and see how it goes, and then kind of go from there.

I think there can be a lot of fear, and it can be very overwhelming. I always say just take your time, think about the decision, do your research, and focus on how things make you feel. A lot of this is how do you feel when you walk into a home. Does it feel like somewhere that you can see yourself living or see your parents living?

Focus on the feelings and how it made you feel while you were there. What could you see yourself or your parents doing while you were there? Just kind of trust your gut when you make that decision.

Absolutely! We do have a number of respite or short-stay rooms here. They’re fully furnished, very much like a little hotel stay. Just a small-size room with a bed, table, cable, and all of that stuff. People or their family members can come in for two weeks up to 60 days and get a chance to try it out, see if they like it, see if it’s a good fit for them, and then go from there.