Interview with Hawthorn Park Retirement Community - Verve Senior Living family member, Fiona

The staff is outstanding. They have been phenomenal through my very first interaction. So that’s definitely a huge component of my appreciation for our experience this past year.

Sense of community is really strong as well. I think when I was first going to meet Alyssa, who’s the marketing manager there, she was my very first contact. It was about this time last year. It was a nice, sunny day. I was sitting outside waiting to meet with her because, of course, COVID protocols were in place, and just being able to sit there and watch the interaction between residents and staff and people coming and going. Right away, I got such a good feeling of how people were interacting and just the atmosphere and the camaraderie. It was really impressive even at that point. So I knew I was starting in the right place.

It’s a little bit harder for my experience with Mom just because we came in during COVID. It’s hard to compare what the activity levels and different things were in a normal situation. That’s one of the things Mom has commented on so frequently, is the effort made by the staff to, under these very challenging circumstances, try to find ways to make fun and festive and brighten everybody’s day. They were very imaginative and creative in trying to find ways to make something special through the week.

The number of activities is starting to increase now that the COVID protocols are lessening. I think there’s a great number of activities available either on site. More and more outings are starting to become available. They have a bus. They just did a pontoon boat trip onto the lake last week, which sounded like great fun. I chatted with a few of Mom’s neighbors, and they really enjoyed the time on the boat. So all those things are starting to come back and mean a lot to a lot of the residents.

At Hawthorn Park, there’s quite a variety of abilities, people who are still very independent and some that need some more assistance, but are getting that assistance they need and are still very much enjoying the activities and just their neighbors and their fellow residents. I do feel a real sense of community among the residents. I see that, and it’s really nice to watch.

We were really lucky with Mom’s suite. She’s on the third floor, which is the top floor of the building. She has a lovely little balcony. She has a lovely view out towards, you know, the north of Kelowna. So across the street is our local college. So it’s not like there’s a lot of high rises blocking her view or anything like that. She’s got lots of green space, and the nice thing, and it’s a very attractive building. Her outlook she really, really enjoys.

The location of the building is very close to a lot of amenities in the community. There’s the Pandosy Village area, as it’s called. There’s a little mall with groceries, and doctors are close by, the hospital’s not too far, coffee shops, and lots of little things. So I know a lot of the residents are out there walking, easily can walk.

I’m so glad that she’s in Hawthorn now. It’s taken a lot of our mutual worry for herself out. One of the big issues that she was facing still living on her own in Vancouver was she was becoming more isolated. It was harder for her to get out on her own. A lot of her friends, their health was failing, so she was not able to see them. Then, of course, when COVID hit, it was really quite devastating for her in terms of just being really, really isolated.

Now that she’s at Hawthorn Park Retirement Community, that interaction has made a big difference. She’s a very social person, so this was a really key thing for her. Even though they weren’t able to do the normal activities they would have been doing pre-COVID, just knowing that she’s got the interaction, she’s got the communal dining. Even though they were, you know, one person per table when she first moved in, you’re still getting those conversations and interactions.

The staff have just been so supportive, very, very kind to her needs. Communication has been really key. I know that I can, you know, typically it’s emailing, you get that message out there and you get a response very soon. Or I need to request a meeting because you need that face-to-face, and that will happen. They are always very open to being able to meet and hear what might be needed by my mom.

It’s lessened my worry and stress in many ways because now she’s five minutes down the road instead of five hours away. When there were issues in Vancouver, I wasn’t there all the time, but I was there a lot of the time. But when I couldn’t be there, it was just really hard to try to troubleshoot over the phone or maybe try to coordinate assistance. That was not always able to be done in a timely manner.

Now she’s down the road. I can see her all the time now that the COVID protocols are lessening as well. That’s made a big difference in my being able to spend more and more time with her because initially it was quite difficult that I wasn’t able to spend as much time as we wanted to be able to spend together. I have the opportunity and the schedule that I can adjust my schedule to be with her as much as she’s needing. But also sometimes I might not be able to be there when she would want somebody there.

I know that the staff is there and checking in, and I can always reach out to them if I have any concerns and they’ll follow up for me. We’ve been able to create a really good community and team. That’s the nice thing, that everybody’s got the same approach. We’re all here to support the residents and make their days as good as they can be. It’s just been a really good experience.

I think I would describe the character as extremely caring, with a very strong sense of community and respect for the residents and their needs. I love watching the staff interact with the residents. Somebody has a little something they’re working on and maybe they need a little bit of help, and just the kind approach and respectful approach to somebody.

As many of the staff have said, this is their home, right? This is about them enjoying their home and supporting them to make that as positive a situation as possible. I think that sense of community is a really important positive feature.

One of my first meetings with Alyssa, before Mom moved in, when we were getting everything set up, and I have to say, Alyssa and Chelsea, who were the marketing managers, they were my first contact. They were the ones that supported me in getting Mom moved and making it as seamless as possible, especially when we had such limited access to the suite, to the building, and all of that. A lot of the residents I know have lived there for a long time.

A lot of the staff have been there for a long time, and I think that speaks volumes as well. They’ve done a lot of renovations lately, so it’s a really pleasant place to come into. It has a great feel. They’ve got a pool. They’ve got a little movie theater room. They’ve got a lovely little library. The dining room is lovely.

I’ve been able to have a bit of the food because Mom’s been having her meals in her room lately. I do take tastes, and I have to say I’ve been very impressed with the variety of the meals and the flavors and all that. It’s very yummy. So I think the dining room is doing a great job. I know Shelly, the dining room manager, has been another one of the staff that I’ve been able to reach out to, communicate with, and have a meeting with if I needed to.

If you’re considering somewhere for your loved one, Hawthorne is definitely what I would put at the top of my list to look at. Everybody obviously has their different needs. The nice thing about Hawthorne is that I think that there’s a lot available for such a variety of needs and also for future possible needs, that it’s a really good place to consider.

I know for myself, I have friends who are working with seniors in the community, and I had spoken with them when we were starting to look at what was maybe available here for Mom. They were speaking very highly. I had a friend who had moved her mom in recently, and they were also speaking very highly of Hawthorne. So my initial impression, before even kind of making that first phone call, was already pretty good.

Once we started that process, when I first talked with Alyssa, and then being able to move forward and knowing that there was something that we could make happen quite quickly because time had become a bit of a concern, getting the move done as quickly as possible, we hit it at the right time and there was a suite available. There were actually a couple. So I did actually have a couple to look at for Mom and was able to make a sort of which one would Mom like best.

The suite itself for her, the one she’s in, was recently remodeled. I know a lot of them are being freshened up, so it has suited her needs really well. There’s the odd thing that’s come up that she’s needed because she started to need a little more support. We’ve needed to maybe add something in, and that’s been so well received. A request, a need to make it happen, it’s made happen, and it’s seamless, which is really, really appreciated.

I think a lot of it was initially feeling strongly that that was probably one of the better options here in Kelowna for what Mom would probably need. Then my interaction with Alyssa and then Chelsea, because they were the front line for me in starting that process. Again, getting in and being able to see everything was difficult to do at that time, but certainly what I could see and knew of Mom’s enjoyments and needs and that sort of thing, so that was really important.

I felt very supported during the transition because it was a big move for Mom, moving from a different community to a very different kind of living, having been independent in her own place up until this point. There were a lot of changes for Mom and there were some bumps in the road as you go through, because as you can imagine, that’s a huge life change. Again, the support, kindness, and compassion stood out.

We did look at quite a few in the Vancouver area and had decided on one that she felt would be a nice fit for herself. But then it was the wait and the wait, and in the meantime, I’m going up and down and up and down and up and down from Kelowna to Vancouver. She’s starting to need more and more assistance. So then she just felt it would really make a lot more sense if she moved to Kelowna. I was totally supportive of that idea, which would just make things so much easier and nicer for her too, because then we can have a lot more daily interaction and normal, regular life stuff.

There were a lot of reasons why Kelowna made sense. Our family, her two granddaughters don’t live here all the time anymore, they’ve been off at university. But she knew that if she was in Kelowna, she was more likely to get to see them come home here first. Then it was looking at initially thinking about independent living here and then realizing that we needed to look at something that could offer her support for the needs she may require going forward.

That kind of came to a head once COVID hit and she was struggling more, and then really just focusing in on Hawthorne after having done some research, talking with her, looking at the place, and discussing it more with Mom. Then it was just like, yep, let’s try to make it happen. There’s an availability. We can get going on this. It became a priority. Trying to put it all together under challenging circumstances, I couldn’t have done it all without their help. So it was, again, a wonderful team effort.

We met to go over what would be needed as far as services within the apartment. You’ve always got the what’s included and then what are you needing to support, arrange for yourself. Then, of course, trying to coordinate the move time and the move-in was all needing to be really highly scheduled because there’s only so many people who can come in. You’ve got certain hours of the day when you’re tying up an elevator, when people are needing it for dining room time.

So you’re orchestrating all of that and trying to minimize the disruption to the residents on the day of the move-in, for instance. We were constantly communicating back and forth as I was arranging for one utility person to need to come in and clearing it with Alyssa and Chelsea. Can this work? That communication is so important and was so easy.

Getting her moved in was just a very short window of time from being able to access the suite and then Mom moving in because of the protocols. Once she was in, I couldn’t come in and do any more tweaking in the apartment because she had to be on isolation. So again, it was just amazing support, this is the time you can have, and get as much done as you can. It worked out really well, actually. They were really very, very supportive and just really helped things to go as seamlessly as possible in, again, a very challenging time.

I think that it’s really important to not just be looking at the present situation, but thinking about the future. That’s something I’ve experienced personally more so from other family members that I’ve had with different situations over the years and friends and their parents and that sort of thing. I hear that a lot from friends who’ve been looking at places for their parents and just realizing you can’t just think about how is Mom or Dad right now, but what are they maybe going to be like in a couple or five years even, and what might be our best way to go.

Definitely thinking about the future and what those needs might be, trying to make those changes as causing as little disruption as possible so that you hope that the loved one isn’t having to move multiple times or anything like that. Mom has gotten to really appreciate, for instance, the care attendants who she probably sees the most of as far as staff members go. You are creating a relationship. They’re getting to know what she enjoys, she’s getting to learn about them and their families, and all those things.

Those connections are all really important. So to lose those and start again, I think would be quite hard for someone.

I think that Mom and I both agree that it would have been nice if she had done this a couple of years ago. Then she would have had more full benefit of the really wonderful lifestyle that she could have had. But I don’t have any regrets at all. I’ve been just so thankful and full of gratitude for our experience so far.

It’s just made her life much better in being able to be here, being safe through this very challenging time of the pandemic, and certainly taken a lot of stress and worry from my thoughts. Knowing that she’s close by, knowing that there’s a wonderful team there supporting her, and that we’re all just working together to give her a wonderful time here in Kelowna.

Knowing that Mom is safe and well cared for and a part of our community for our family, and has a great community that not just she is, but I’m a part of, and our family is a part of because we can all go down there now to visit with her. Her granddaughters are there and they’re getting to know the staff, and my husband. When family from outside of town can come in now, start coming in, which is great. So yeah, just knowing she’s here and we can all be enjoying time together is huge. Having her here now in the same city has meant a great deal.