Interview with Hazelton Place Retirement Residence - Verve Senior Living family member, Jen Engels

There’s a real commitment to excellent care for each individual. I think they really try to get to know the individual clients, what they like and what they really enjoy doing, and really try to make sure that’s there for them. So that’s something I really appreciate, and I know my parents do too.

Both my parents moved to Hazelton Place from Montreal in August of 2019, and although my dad had just turned 90 and my mom was in her late 80s, they were still quite active, going out to concerts in Montreal and really enjoying spending a lot of time at the beautiful Westmount Library near where they lived and taking classes. They’re very engaged people who are curious about a lot of things and love music and culture. So we wanted to be sure that they would be continuing to get that when they moved to Toronto.

Both the location and the amenities that were offered were important to us. They both started going to poetry classes every Monday, where people would bring in a poem and discuss it and try to have a really fulsome discussion about the poem and poetry in general. I know that meant a lot to them, that there were people in the community who shared that interest of theirs.

I know that they have really enjoyed some of the classical music concerts that have been offered and some of the jazz bands that were playing both outside and inside. I remember taking them to, I think it was a duo of piano and cello in the St. George Room, which is a beautifully appointed room with a lovely grand piano. This was pre-COVID and pretty packed in, with so many people enjoying this beautiful music. I think they were students from U of T, and it was just lovely. It’s that kind of thing that just felt like this would be the right place for my parents, where they get to continue enjoying the things that they love to do.

The staff is wonderful. They are so friendly and so kind, and they get to know everybody and their names. That’s one thing I definitely noticed when we were taking our tours and visiting, that the staff seemed happy. I think that tells you so much about management and the way staff is treated. Of course, you want your family to be in a place where the staff is happy to be there and happy to take care of them and that they feel like they’re doing something good and worthwhile with their working lives by helping people in a retirement setting.

It felt like a beautiful space to live in. I believe it was a former hotel, and so you can sort of feel that kind of soaring lobby when you enter. It just feels so spacious and airy. Then the dining room also has that sort of airy feeling. It doesn’t feel cramped at all. The St. George’s Lounge has a sort of U shape where people can gather in little groups, and there are a couple of gas fireplaces. So you can just bring a book and get cozy near there. Then there’s a small library where you can borrow books and either curl up by the fire or bring one back to your suite. Downstairs there’s a lovely games room with a pool table and a foosball table and a bunch of games that I knew would be really appealing to my children when they would come to visit their grandparents, and sure enough, that was a big hit.

They’re on the fifth floor, and they overlook Avenue Road, so they’ve got two bathrooms and a nicely appointed kitchen. That’s one thing I really appreciate, that the suites are always upgraded. They put in a new countertop or painting or whatever is needed just to make it fresh for the new client. It’s a one-bedroom, but it flows very nicely and at the same time feels like everything has its place. When they first moved in there, I kept saying, you know what, I’d kind of like to move in. I like the exercise room, I like the classes, and I like the dining room and meals being taken care of.

It's helped my peace of mind and my sister’s peace of mind, because we were living in a different city from them, and they were on their own in an apartment. While they were still managing to keep up, it sort of felt like it’s better to make the move while you are still keeping up rather than when it’s getting to be way too much.

Sometimes I think my mom would like to cook or has the idea that she would like to cook, but I think she’s also just fine with having other people do the cooking now and the shopping, the grocery shopping having gone away. All those kinds of time-consuming and challenging-as-you-get-older activities or tasks, for that all to be gone, I think is an improvement.

I think the fact that there is nursing staff in the building, they haven’t needed it, but at the same time I think it grants a peace of mind. Same with their alert bracelets, which all clients are given upon moving in. They can either have it in the form of a watch or a kind of necklace, and that’s just in case someone has a fall and needs help; they can get help 24/7.

It hasn’t been called for yet, thankfully, but it does give us all peace of mind. And of course, to be in the same city as us. But that isn’t Hazelton-specific. Just knowing that there are so many caring people around to be there for them, for whatever they should need, that does grant a big peace of mind.

The bigger improvement, again, we couldn’t have foreseen, was COVID. On the one hand, you could say, well, they were in a communal setting, that’s more dangerous. But on the other hand, I really felt from the very beginning of the pandemic that the staff and management of Hazelton Place handled it extremely well. I think they took it incredibly seriously from the get-go and had all kinds of precautions in place early. While it was a huge adjustment for everyone and their families to make, I think they weathered the storm extremely well, and I really commend all of them, from management on down, for the way that it was handled.

So it’s very nice to know that there are friendly faces around to have dinner with again and to have a cup of tea with, and that kind of thing.

It’s been a huge relief for us. That they are nearby, and to know that they had help, that if they were having some computer issues, then someone could come help them with that in the building.

And obviously if they needed medical care, that there was someone there with them. That would have been extremely stressful for us were they living on their own in another city that we couldn’t even get to. So that’s been wonderful.

I think it’s been wonderful for my children to have them so close by and now to be able to see them again frequently, and just sort of being part of our daily and weekly lives rather than quarterly, which is how often we were able to visit them before.

The pandemic has been a big part of it, and so that hasn’t been terrific because I think it’s brought with it some isolation. So it’s kind of a hard one to answer because now we’re in mid-August, we’re two years later from their move-in, and I think it’s only now that my mom, especially, is feeling comfortable about being social again.

It comes down to kindness and care. I really feel that all of the staff that I’ve met there are exceptionally kind and take a lot of pride in the care that they show to the residents there.

It’s so nice to hear people whom I don’t know warmly greet my parents by name, and it’s clear that they’ve gotten to know them a little bit and they’re fond of them, and that comes through very strongly. 

I’d say if you are lucky enough to get a spot, do it. I think the entire team there are really dedicated and very caring, and they seem to be consistently looking to make improvements where they can. So I feel like they ask for feedback, and when it is given, they internalize it and do something about it. That’s greatly appreciated. I would say if there is a spot and if the place appeals to you, there’s a good reason for that, because I feel it’s what you see is what you get and then some.

There were a number of boxes that we wanted to check in terms of location and activities.

That was a big part of it, just knowing that there would be activities on offer that would be interesting to my parents. You might call them culture vultures. They like the arts. They like the proximity to good museums and interesting day trips and that kind of thing. So that was a big part of it.

I think just going to see the place and see what a nice, comfortable setting it is, and then the suites themselves.

I talked a lot with Leslie Westlake, who is the marketing manager there, who was just tireless in her work to help us get in and then get settled. She was seemingly available 24/7, always responding so quickly to emails. She and her team were really terrific. I think it was the offerings in terms of activities; they just seemed to line up with their interests in terms of culture and continuing to learn. I like the fact that there are a couple of pianos there. My mom likes to play piano, and so she’s been down to the art room in the basement, or the lower lobby, just to practice. She really enjoys that.

The location within Toronto was important. They’re really about a ten to 15-minute walk away from the Royal Ontario Museum, which is really interesting to them. 

The suites themselves are very nicely appointed, and the view onto Avenue Road is a lovely one.

The food was also a huge consideration when you think that all your meals, except for when you go to restaurants, will be there. I think we ended up, between the entire family, probably going two or three times at different meals, and they were very good.

Leslie, the marketing manager, helped us find the appropriate movers, which I really appreciated because I was a little bit concerned about moving most of the contents of their apartment from Montreal to Toronto, and they had paintings and things that required sort of kid-glove care. She recommended movers who were terrific, so it really felt like a kind of door-to-door service.

It’s a matter of considering where your loved ones are now and their interests and their abilities, but also what going forward could possibly look like. We really appreciated the fact that there is assisted living on the second floor so that if one of them were to take a turn, they could move into assisted living and still feel very much like a part of the community.

I like the fact that they have sort of a menu of services available, from helping you with laundry to personal care, which you can kind of choose à la carte. So that should circumstances change and your loved ones need more help, that is available to them, but they can still very much keep the life that they started at Hazelton Place and adjust with change if and when it comes.

I was very fortunate to have my sister really spearheading that process, who is a master organizer, and so she handled most of it on the Montreal end, and I was handling things on the Toronto end. So it was a multitude of details.

With Hazelton, I felt in very good hands. No question that I had, and I can’t remember them all because it was a couple of years ago now, but I just felt like no question was too small.

When we were trying to figure out whether a piece of furniture would fit there and so forth, they were able to send us over a floor plan so that we could make those decisions. I know Leslie went up on more than one occasion to take a look at something to be able to answer one of our questions that had to be related to the move.

They were just really going above and beyond. We were trying not to be nuisances, of course, but they just felt like they were there to do whatever we needed in order to make the move as smooth and easy as possible.

There was a lovely welcome basket with some very nice flowers, a bottle of wine and some chocolates. Leslie called to say, now, do your parents drink alcohol? Is your dad a Scotch man, that kind of thing? I said they both like a nice bottle of wine. So they sent one along, and some beautiful flowers. It just felt really personalized. There were some chocolates. It was so thoughtful, and we really appreciated that at Hazelton Place.

I know that my parents were sad to leave Montreal, and I think we’re just glad that they made the move while they were still mobile and able to get out and enjoy the city. We tried, I think, two years prior, and they said, "No, we’re good, we’re going to stay in Montreal." Then two years later, they said, "Okay, yeah, we’re ready to go now."

Maybe when I get to that age, I might make it sooner.