Interview with Richmond Hill Retirement Residence - Verve Senior Living management, Desiree Onistchenko, former manager

I’ve been with Richmond Hill Retirement for a long time. I actually started off in the dining room. I just passed my anniversary day. I’ve been there for eight years. So I absolutely love it. I love what I do. It’s been a lot of growth for me there, and it’s like a second family for me.

I pretty much started when Richmond Hill Retirement opened up in 2012. I know all of the residents very well. I know their family. It’s my second home. It’s actually where I met my husband.

Richmond Hill is a big city, but I always say it’s not really that big. Everyone knows everyone. Even for a resident who’s coming into Richmond Hill Retirement Residence and thinks, "Oh, I’m not going to know anyone; I’m nervous about this," that’s never the case. They always run into someone that they know either from a community center or a church that they used to attend to, or just from their past. So it’s just nice because you really do get that small community feel, and I enjoy that the most.

I love helping people. For me, getting into this line of work- helping seniors and helping their families- before I took the job, I had a lot of dining and hospitality background, and I’ve always wanted to help people, so this just seemed to fit me and my personality. It has just evolved, and I’ve grown over the eight years.

Everyone thinks it’s sales, but really, you’re just helping people. You’re helping seniors in the community, but you’re also helping their families with this process in this time in their life at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence.

Richmond Hill Retirement has a lot of amenities, which is wonderful. We have a lot of everything on site- everything you could think of. But our location is key.

We are in the heart of Richmond Hill. We’re on Bernard Street, right across from the Loblaws shopping plaza. And we’re in the same plaza as the McDonald’s, Tim Hortons, we’re right beside a dental office. Convenience is everything, and that’s really key for our residents.

We have a fitness studio, a spa, a theater, a craft room, a library, a billiards room, like anything you can think of, we have already on site at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence.

We’re really known for our dining experience here. We have a Bells and Whistles Pub that’s open every day, all day. We also have our formal dining room that also has two different menus to choose from, and then one from the Bells and Whistles Pub. So three menus in total to choose from.

Our number one thing that we’re known for is our social life. We do have a bit of a younger senior demographic here. The average age is 84 or 85, and they are very social. They love to have fun.

Our life enrichment team do a wonderful job with offering activities and programs on a daily basis. Our monthly calendars are jam-packed with activities and programs. So I would say the social life would be the number one thing that probably sets us apart from our competitors.

We actually have an Ambassador Club, and we have a Resident Council. They like to participate in those decisions. We have a group of ladies at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence where they like to get together and go through the calendar before it actually goes out to the rest of the residents. They give tips and tricks and what they want to see.  Really, it’s all about them and what they want.

So, we’re always open to, if somebody wants to make a request, we say, "Absolutely!" That’s what we’re always looking for. 

You can never go wrong with the fish and chips at our Bells and Whistles Pub. I love comfort food like fish and chips.

Our Bells and Whistles pub is really great because it’s open every day. It’s great for families that want to stop in. They want to have maybe lunch or dinner with mom or dad. Maybe have a glass of wine or a beer with their meal as well.

We also do monthly brunches at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence, which is a great feature. Our dining staff put on these wonderful monthly brunches. They put out a fabulous spread, and it’s not just for the residents but also for families. We always get a great turnout every month. We have 145 residents, and then we usually get 100 guests on top of that.

We have three different distinctive menus to choose from. We have our formal dining room menu that offers two choices every day, and they’re always different. Then we also have our à la carte menu.

Our formal dining room menu gets changed on an everyday basis and then on a weekly basis, and it’s in a six-week rotation. Then it also depends on the season, so spring, summer, fall, winter, we have different food items.

We also have a program that our company highly promotes, our Living Loving Local program, and it’s all about promoting local farmers. Anything that’s in season, we actually put it on the menu.

In fall, it’s usually corn, maybe some yams or sweet potato, something like that where you can get it locally. For that month, we’ll promote that product and then we’ll integrate it into our menu. That’s how our chef customizes the menus or the formal dining room menu at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence.

The pub menu is your typical pub menu. But we also have very healthy, healthier options to choose from. We do have residents that have certain food restrictions, whether they be diabetic or maybe they’re on a low sodium diet. We are also able to accommodate those who have dietary needs as well.

We have a younger senior demographic at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence. The average age is 84 and 85, and so we do have a lot of residents who are very social and want to have fun. This is absolutely fantastic for us because they encourage us. They come up with new ideas too and look to have their ideas implemented, and we take that to heart.

We also have a bus at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence. We’re always doing outings and day trips with them. Our life enrichment they do such a great job, with everything going on, still providing that social life to our residents.

It depends on their situation. We get both. We get seniors who are looking for themselves. Maybe their family isn’t close by and isn’t able to help with the process. So we really do, we truly do become like their family, and we help them through that process.

If it’s the other way around, if it’s a family member who’s inquiring for a loved one, we are also helping with that process. Usually in those types of situations, the family member has taken on all the responsibility, and they are the caregiver. They have all this responsibility on them. They’re coming in; they’re looking for that guidance.

So it’s our mission at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence to just ease that transition, not just for their loved one, but for them as well, and for the rest of their family. That’s the most rewarding thing is knowing that I’m not just helping our residents that are coming in, but I’m also helping their families, and I am helping families as well with this process.

I would say to families, I understand, and it can be quite difficult. It is quite an emotional process, but this is what we’re here for. We’re here to ease that transition and to really be there every step of the way.

Different family members might have different opinions and might ask a question that someone else didn’t think of, and that’s great. We highly encourage that when you’re looking into retirement living for the loved one that you do your research and ask those questions.

Go and see any home in person, get a feel for it, do your tours, get as much information as you possibly can. Get as much information as you possibly can before making a decision. Discuss it with the family and ask whoever you’re working with; ask those questions, ask those tough questions, and see where it takes you.

All the residents are like my family. So I’m actually a little bit sad because I’m going on mat leave in a few weeks. So, I’m going to be away from them for a year. So that’s sad for me. But I love everybody there.

Anybody, when they come into our home, they see it. We all know each other by name. Our staff, they all have smiles on their face. We’re all saying hello to each other.

Richmond Hill is big, but it’s not that big. It’s like a tight-knit community. Everyone knows each other.

A lot of our staff and management team at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence have been here since the beginning, since our doors opened, and are still there. There’s something to be said about that, and that’s what makes our community so great because we are a family at Richmond Hill. You really do feel that sense of community and a sense of belonging when you come into our residence.

Our residents praise us all the time for how wonderful our staff is and for our attention to detail. So we believe our customer service should be over and above. This starts right from the beginning with the sales process. As I mentioned before, we really do go through every step with the family and the resident and ease them into that transition. Just being with them every step of the way, just easing them into the process and making it as easy as possible for them. And then that transpires over.

Once they move into Richmond Hill Retirement Residence, that transpires over, and then we ensure that they get the best service when it comes to all matters such as nursing, housekeeping, dining, and then of course, life enrichment.

We get a lot of questions about underground parking. Obviously, no one’s perfect. I’ve been there for eight years, so obviously there are some things that I’m like, hey, that would be great to add; that would be a great feature to add. I think it would benefit our business.

We have outdoor parking at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence, but we also don’t charge for our parking. So that’s a great amenity as well for our residents.

We also have a contractor that comes and they shovel and they wipe the snow off your car, and they salt the driveway. They still start your car for you too, so that you’re not having to go out and wait in the cold and have your car heat up.

Just little things like that. We’ve been open for eight years, so we just recently renovated our lobby area, and that’s going to carry over into our dining room.

We do like to party at Richmond Hill Retirement. Around the holidays, we have lots of fun. So, for Christmas, we have a lot of dances, parties, New Year’s party.

Our New Year’s Eve party is always fantastic. And we always get a great turnout for that. Everybody gets all dressed up, and it’s a lot of fun, and live entertainment. Around the holidays, it’s always a fun time at Richmond Hill Retirement Residence, but we’re always doing things on a monthly basis. So any reason to party for us, we’re good with. 

Richmond Hill Retirement strongly believes that it is our mission to help you with every step of the way, to ease that transition, not just for your loved one, but for you and your family as well.

When you’re looking at your options, go and tour. Make sure you go and get the information that you need. Go and actually have a look and tour. Get as much information as you possibly can. Ask those questions, and no question is a dumb question. Just ask it, because you won’t know if you don’t ask. Get as much information as you possibly can before making your decision.