Interview with The Wexford management, Jane Bryce

Number one is the residents. I love working with my elders, hearing their stories, and helping them find their solutions. Often when they’re looking for a place to live, it’s a big change, and to be able to make that smooth and help them with that transition really gives me a lot of joy.

Another thing I love about The Wexford is my staff. They’re such a wonderful group to work with, and of course, we’re all there for the same reason, and that is to care for and enhance the lives of the elders that we serve. With that same kind of common goal in mind, we have a lot of fun, and they’re just a really great group of people.

I’ve always been a little bit of a bossy pants, so to fit into the role of the general manager and kind of see the business grow and develop the employees and keep the building full has been really great.

My own elders in my life, my grandparents, were a big part of me growing up in Newfoundland. When I was about 12 years old, I thought one day I’m going to work with elders, and I didn’t know what that looked like or in what kind of capacity, but I just knew one day it would happen.

My life kind of took me into the hospitality role, so I did that for a number of years, then started working at an in-home support company, telling people, stay at home, we’ll send care to you, and then transitioned into senior living, where it became, no, don’t stay at home, come live with us and change your life that way. It was really quite an interesting shift.

I started with Bria Communities in our Langley properties almost nine years ago, doing sales and marketing for our two Langley properties. I really loved that role, but I was ready for the next step in my career, so it was a natural step when the position opened up at The Wexford to jump into this role.

I was involved with the opening of the building four years ago, doing the sales and marketing, and getting that going at the beginning. So it was kind of like coming home. A lot of the staff who were there when we opened our doors are still there today, and even some of the residents that I signed the paperwork with back in the day are still there. So it really was a natural fit for me.

There are a lot of options in the community, which is really great for our seniors, because they’re able to find the right fit for them. But I always say a building’s a building. We have walls and a ceiling and furniture, but it’s really the staff and the residents that live and work in the building that are going to breathe life and love into those walls. So when you walk into the building, you can really feel the difference.

Every building will feel different, and it’s important for people to get out there and see what feels right for them. We have such a wonderful group of people there every day, providing great service, so when you walk in, you can feel that warmth.

Our residents really like to get involved in the things that we’re doing. Bria Communities is very involved in the communities that we serve and in doing community outreach and events for the community. At The Wexford, we have had what we call Hot Dog Days, serving up the famous Myrtle’s hot dogs in Tsawwassen and making it a really big community event.

We brought in entertainment, invited the whole community, and I find that we have staff who volunteer, and a lot of the residents want to get involved as well, just for that community feeling.

Tsawwassen is like a little sunny Tsawwassen. It’s a small area, part of Delta, which is the bigger community. It’s right near the water, with the ocean and the mountains, so the best of both worlds.

The Waterford was our second property that Bria Communities opened, and it has independent living as well as long-term care. Here at The Wexford, we have 65 suites of independent living. The Waterford is just down the road from us, so very nearby, and we like to collaborate and get together on different events.

We share a bus with The Waterford, so that our seniors can get out and enjoy scenic drives or go to places. We also have a courtesy van, so between The Waterford and The Wexford, we share that as well on different days, getting our seniors out to appointments or just, if they want to go to the mall or meet a friend for coffee or go for lunch, we can get them there and get them home safely.

We are the smallest Bria community at 65 suites, and it really does feel like a little boutique style. We have the opportunity to really get to know our residents, and they feel really connected to each other because of that small feel.

One of my favorite things is our rooftop garden, which we recently had redesigned, and it’s just so beautiful. Up there, you can see the mountains on one side, you can see a peekaboo of the ocean, and the gardens are beautiful. It’s just a wonderful space.

We do have some social hours up on the rooftop as well, with some shade and sun based on your preference, and it’s just a really great place to entertain or to visit or just to kick back and read a book.

There are so many things on the menu that I love. Our chef does a really great job in the kitchen. Right now, we’re creating our fall menu, so he’s got some surveys out getting input from the residents on things they like, and they’d like to see more of. He’ll often take a favorite recipe from a resident and turn it into a menu item, so that’s always really fun. Today, for example, tomato soup is so simple, yet so delicious.

One of the most memorable things that happened recently was that in February, we had a renewal of vows with some of our residents. We did have Elvis on site, and being married 71 years is quite something, so we celebrated. We had three couples that renewed their vows, so it was quite the event and quite the party afterwards. For me, that is the most memorable so far, just the love in the air with everybody and the sense of community.

A lot of people feel that moving into an independent living building is giving up your independence, when in fact it’s the complete opposite. It’s gaining new independence. You maybe don’t realize that until you’re actually in the building. I’ve heard a lot of residents say, "Gee, I should have done this two years ago when my daughter mentioned it."

You move in, and you have all of these services available to you. There are no more worries about what’s for dinner and who’s cleaning up afterwards, and who’s going to do the grocery shopping. You’re really able to let go of all those little daily things and start enjoying life again, and doing things that you really enjoy and have time to do. So that’s really great.

Our recreation team works really hard to make sure we’re engaging residents, even those who maybe don’t participate a lot, by trying to find out what they would enjoy so that we can do some programs with them as well.

It’s difficult to let go of the home that you raised your family in and all those memories and things. So we do have an orientation process where we try to involve all the staff members in it so that the new resident gets to know us all on a personal level and becomes comfortable with us.

We also try to match new residents up with other residents in the building who have equal interests, maybe another introvert who could really benefit from somebody to have tea with and a chat. Next thing you know, they find out that their cousins knew each other and there’s some kind of connection somehow. We just all work together to make them feel as comfortable as possible. We also integrate the family into that as much as possible, inviting them to events, meals, and special programs.

We are independent living, but the services of assisted living do come to us from an outside source. We do have some residents in the building, as they’re aging and need a little bit more help, and those services come in either through the Health Authority or through a private care agency. They’re able to receive the assisted living services in their suite and stay with us as long as it’s safe and until they get to a point where they would need residential care.

The care center at The Waterford is available for our residents to transition to quite easily. In Bria Communities, we want to take care of our family, and so if a resident of a Bria community needs access to long-term care, then they are given priority placement on our care waitlist.

We also have a care center in Langley at one of our properties there. If private pay is not really an option, then it’s working with the health authority to find the proper solution for a funded location. We just work with families and the caregivers to make sure it’s a good transition for them.

We’re monitoring all of our residents all the time. We see them every day. They’re in the dining room eating, so the servers are serving them. They’ll notice if there are any changes in their eating habits. If they’re taking the plate away and there’s a lot more food left than what they normally would leave, it’s a sign that maybe something is wrong.

With our housekeepers going in once a week to take care of the suite, they’ll notice things as well and report back to me if they notice changes, like if someone always had her bed made and now she never does, or there’s a pile of laundry that was never there before. So we do have a reporting system through reception to pass the information on to me. We also keep connected with family members to ensure that they’re aware of any changes that may be happening, and then work with families to determine what the next best step would be.

The next exciting thing is the new menu, so that’s always exciting when a new menu comes out. Our culinary team is very creative, so I very much look forward to taste-testing the new menu. Our recreation team is really creative and always looking for new ideas, so for Oktoberfest coming up, we do have a passport for everybody, and we’re traveling to Germany, so that should be a lot of fun as well.

I’m also really looking forward to all the different entertainment we have. We have quite a few dancers in the building, so music and dancing are a big part of our world there as well. I always enjoy that.

It is a very common misconception, especially with our elders, that senior living is that nasty place where I’m just going to sit and stare at a window until I die, nobody’s ever going to visit me, and I’m never going to be happy again. That is just the old belief from back in the day when their grandmas were put in a home.  

The face of senior living has changed so dramatically through the years, and it’s really something that they don’t know until they experience it. The first step is just getting them through the door. A lot of family members are just trying to get them into the tour so that they can experience firsthand what that looks like and how it’s changed.

You have your own suite. You have the ability to tuck yourself away if you’d like to be on your own. But if you’re a little lonely, you can come downstairs and grab a cup of tea, and there’s usually always somebody to have a chat with or a game of cards. They just don't realize the freedom until they experience it.

If you can get your loved one to tour a community, then that would be the best way as an introduction to get them to really experience that it can be different. Most places will offer you to come stay for lunch or dinner, and I recommend taking them up on that because it really gives you a different perspective.

After your tour, the saleslady goes away, and then you just get to sit and enjoy a meal and feel the buzz about the place. Oftentimes, residents, when they see a guest sitting there, will approach them and say, "Hey, you’re new here, let me tell you about this place and how great it is," and so you get a different perspective. I highly recommend doing that.