Interview with Amica Dundas management, Stephanie Jason

Amica Dundas has one of the most beautiful locations that I've ever seen. It's got a really great walking score. It's local to a grocery store, a pharmacy, and beautiful downtown Dundas where there's lots of shops, little places to go for coffee, lunches, clothing shops, all within a couple of blocks. I think that is one of the most impressive things about Amica Dundas, outside of it being such a warm and welcoming home-like environment. The location is key.

Amica Dundas has three different neighborhoods to live in. They've got independent living, memory care, and assisted living. Within each neighborhood, there are five or more programs every day.  We have exercise classes for different levels of mobility [and] aqua fit classes every week. We have outings to grocery shopping or shopping centers, theaters, lunches, and local areas. … We've got a lot of variation. … We've even got a live theater group that meets every week to come up with a play that they put on for the other residents. There's a gardening group [and] some raised beds out back [and the] group that works together to maintain those. 

It just depends on what you like to do, but there's quite a bit! There’re lots of organic connections between residents, too, just getting together to play euchre or bridge, for example. Right now, we have about 220 people living here, so there's lots of opportunity to connect.

There're multiple ways of providing feedback. We have two life enrichment coordinators, and life enrichment assistants as well, responsible for facilitating our daily programming. They’ll meet with the residents regularly to get feedback on what they want to do, what they'd like to see more of, or maybe what they want to see less of. 

We also have monthly meetings with our entire resident group. Those meetings [are] with our whole management team present, and we get feedback there as well. We've also got ways to submit suggestions and feedback anonymously, through our suggestion box outside of our dining room. We're also an open-door concept. [With] any of our leadership team, any of the residents can pop in and say, ‘Hey, I want to see more of this or less of this.’

Communication with family and residents is very important. Our leadership team is in the community day-to-day. We have an open door. We attend programs [and] events, [and] have open conversations with residents. We have newsletters. We have meetings with residents and their families. We're in constant communication. We share our email addresses and phone numbers openly. People often reach out with questions they have. We've got managers here seven days a week, able to talk to families and residents. 

Our menu is designed from our head office. It's reviewed by a dietitian to ensure that we're meeting the needs of our residents. From there, our chef, the Director of Culinary Services, will see that each day, it represents what our residents at Amica Dundas like. Residents here really enjoy fish and chips on Fridays, for example. If that's not in our quarterly menu, that might get changed. We also like to incorporate seasonal things. We're doing fresh corn right now. That might not have been on the original menu, but it's something our residents look forward to and they want to see some local food. So we make changes like that based on what the residents like and enjoy. 

Amica Dundas is: your day, your way. You choose which programs and what you want to do. A typical day may begin by coming to breakfast. In our independent living neighborhood, it's a continental breakfast. Maybe some fresh coffee or a vanilla drink or juice and some hot oatmeal, and bringing that back to your suite or enjoying it in the bistro with other residents. Maybe then you want to go to an aquafit class. The options are endless. Maybe you want to walk downtown, or there's another resident you want to connect with, or be part of the gardening group.

In terms of that, though, sometimes people need help, maybe getting to and from places, or maybe a reminder that a program is happening, or support to bring breakfast to them. We offer all of those things. Your day, your way, means you make it really what you want. The afternoon could be an outing to a theater, or a museum, or the park, or ice cream. … The dining room is a great place to socialize as well. Some people like to just be in their apartment then enjoy their meals with their friends. Each person's different.

Welcoming new residents is an important part of their journey at Amica. We have a move-in liaison and a resident ambassador. 

The move-in liaison is on our leadership team, a manager who makes sure the resident understands when meals are and communicates with the family about the move-in process, answering all their questions. 

The resident ambassador gets to know the new resident, ensuring that they understand the ins and outs of Amica Dundas, what time to come down for breakfast, what the programs are. Maybe there's a potential connection with another resident because they both taught at McMaster University, so they might be able to have some good conversations dinner table.

That all happens prior to and during the move-in process so that it's smooth, so new residents are comfortable moving in. We invite them to events or activities before they move in so that they're comfortable. They can meet people, know what they're getting into, and see the type of living that we offer so that it's not such a drastic change, and it reduces anxiety or fear that comes with it for people.

We offer care packages in all three neighborhoods (independent, assisted, and memory care.) If you don't want to move, you don't have to. Memory care is a secure unit. If there are concerns with someone wandering, that might be an appropriate neighborhood. 

If somebody wants to age in place in their apartment in independent living, we offer that all the way until potential palliative or end-of-life services. The options are available. The services are open [and] endless. We're able to do almost anything.  It can be scary to move to another neighborhood or location to have your needs met. That might be a new location, a new dining room, [and] a new care team. All these new things when you're experiencing changes within yourself, cognitively or physically, can make moving difficult.

If people need support with reminders or medication administration or getting in and out of bed, or getting ready in the morning, or at night before they go to bed, we offer all of those services in all three neighborhoods. It's just a matter of which neighborhood is more suited for you.