Interview with Crown Ridge Retirement Residence management, Greg Freeman

It’s a family-owned and operated business. I’ve actually grown up in the business since I was 5. My parents started it in the early ’70s. I’ve now been involved with the business for almost 30 years, and I’ve been in charge of the company since 2002, when I took over completely from my father.

I've almost doubled the size of the company since that time and been involved in different associations, construction, and a number of different things that help us focus on how we can make our homes better living environments for our residents

It’s changed quite a lot in the last 15 years, actually, just from the growth of the needs of long-term care. We do have long-term care homes as well attached to this retirement home. We’ve seen the average age in both groups increase dramatically. It seems to be that the average age now is between 85 and 90 of the residents residing in the long-term care homes.

Residents are also a little more tech-savvy than what we used to focus on. We’re focusing more on wireless networks within the homes, internet access for the residents to purchase from their suites, and more social outings outside of the home than maybe what residents would have liked to do in the past.

Rooms and suites have changed in recent years. That changes the focus of some kitchenettes inside some of the units or rooms. Some do not have those, so we have central areas that residents can go to, as well as private dining rooms. There’s a lot of change, but a lot of change for the good, depending on what the residents want with their living environment.

I have great people in our organization. We are a family-run organization, so we do have other family members also working in the business, who aren’t just my family. Some of my managers and key managers also have other family members working in the company. So it really brings a sense of family, external and extended family, which we also see the residents and their family members as.

That really drives our mission statement of embracing life’s journey. That’s kind of the whole focus that we’ve taken with the family-owned and operated business

I think Crown Ridge Retirement is fortunate that we're in a community where there are lots of great homes, and they all offer great services. We’re relatively small. We would have 63 rooms, and depending on couples, you could have about 70 residents within the home.

It’s really the family focus. Myself or our general managers have been in the company for long periods of time, maybe in different positions, but we really have that immediate focus and uniqueness that if there’s an issue or a concern, it can immediately go to the top to be solved if it needs to be. I’m very hands-on, and so are my other general managers. We’re all very accessible, and we do try to resolve any concerns or even suggestions as quickly as possible.

It really starts with the verbal internal communication with either the Life Enrichment Coordinator, the wellness manager, or the general manager in the home. They’re all very visible and open in talking to the residents. Usually, the residents would mention something, and it would get reviewed and implemented.

There are also more formal lines of communication as well. If people wish to write things to the general manager, it would eventually come to my level of review. But generally, we try to keep it as open as possible. We really believe that it is embracing their life’s journey. Our mission isn’t just about the residents. It’s about their families, their staff, and all of us together as a family.

That’s led us to having certain programs like Wishes and Dreams, which we implemented about two years ago in all of our homes. Residents have the option every year of writing down what they’d like to do and what they haven’t been able to do in their lifetime. We can’t send people on trips to Europe, but we certainly can come up with unique ideas of meeting those dreams.

One resident was not as mobile anymore but used to downhill ski. We live close to a very small ski hill. His brother was able to take him with a volunteer. One of our staff members was a volunteer ski instructor, set it all up, all free and volunteer time, and at 90, he was able to ski again. It’s often the simple things that can make the biggest change

We focus on the independent residents and residents that require the lighter side of assisted living, which would be medication administration, maybe some assistance with getting in and out of a tub or doing a button on a blouse. The social atmosphere is really what we focus on.

I've found in my 30 years of experience that often residents will not want to move from their home because that’s the biggest change that we all have. It’s a very hard decision for them to make. It can be equally hard for the family to make that for the resident. But once they move in, generally after a week or two, they feel healthier, they feel less stress on operating their own home and those worries, and they can start to enjoy the social side more. That is really the niche that we try to focus on.

They still have lots of knowledge from their past experiences to share. We do try to have the local schools and different programs with kids coming in and doing either seasonal events for the residents or one-on-one co-op-type things. Again, it really depends on what the residents want to do.

We focus on families also feeling welcome to come in anytime and volunteer or partake in any of the entertainment. It really comes to our mission and our five core values. We took the word CROWN and used that as our acronym. C stands for creative, R is respect, O is outstanding, W is welcoming, and N is nurturing.

We’ve tried to encompass all five things in how we make decisions every day that meet our goal of embracing life’s journey.

Crown Ridge Retirement Residence is attached to our long-term care home, so the grounds are quite large. They’re well-manicured and landscaped. The retirement home itself is relatively small. It’s on one floor. It’s 63 rooms. So we don’t have some of the services that a larger home may have, such as pools and those sorts of things. But we do have all those different things on a smaller scale or level.

We've heard lots of comments that when people walk in the door, they say how homey it feels. We try to keep it much like walking into somebody’s home with the decor of the living room. Obviously, it has to meet the building codes and the fire codes and all those sorts of things with materials, but we do try to make that feel, and the people and the social aspects, as homey as possible.

We find on a smaller scale, we’re that continuum of care. We do have the more independent assisted living aspects of the retirement home. One of the reasons people do like to come to Crown Ridge or look at Crown Ridge is being able to move within the building or site if they do require that next level of care. So it’s helpful from that perspective that they know they may not have to move from this complex or site.

It also helps us in leveraging the experience of the long-term care home, which has a higher level of acuity of nursing care and a higher level of expertise in different positions like wound and skin care and the dietitian in the long-term care home. They do operate as separate entities, but those are the advantages.

There are probably a few, but even prior to Crown Ridge, when I was younger, before the retirement home and the long-term care home, my parents specialized in what they called homes for special care. Those would be residents who, now, many of them would have been in group homes, but back in the early ’80s, they would have been institutionalized along with other residents.

There were a few that we would have had that had a birthday close to mine and my dad’s, which is actually next week. We would have brought Jimmy home with us to our own personal home to celebrate his birthday.

The decision is very difficult for families. It’s an emotional process for them when they’re looking at that for their loved one. It’s basically visiting as many homes in the area you’re looking at as possible because each one has its own niche, maybe the feel, the size. Some people might like a larger size of a 125-bed or 200-bed living environment. Others might like the smaller feel.

We won’t be the right fit for everybody, and that’s why it’s a great opportunity that there are lots of other homes close by for people to choose from. But the ones that we are the right fit for, that’s what we’re here for. So it’s really about doing as much due diligence and looking around to find the right place that meets your loved one’s needs.

We believe that when you walk in our door, if it’s the right fit for you, you’ll feel it. I think that would be the best advice I could give. They’re all professional homes out there.

For residents who may be more shy or haven’t been in a situation where they’re in a new environment and need to make new friends, the small size does help to our advantage a little bit because the size doesn’t become intimidating. It allows them a little bit more ease. It’s not small by any means, but it certainly gives them a bit more comfort in getting close to each lounge area that they are comfortable with, the decor of each lounge area, and other residents.

Right from the beginning, from the admission, the general manager and the life enrichment coordinators really take a focus on making sure that the resident has the tools necessary to make the transition as best as possible. They’ll be following up with that resident, as well as the wellness manager, quite frequently during the admission process.

An advantage of us being small is that the staff, the wellness manager, and the general manager aren’t just in an office. They’re out on the floor with the residents and with the other team members. From the guest attendants to the housekeepers, everybody works as a team and gets to know the resident.

That communication between team members helps flag changes that a resident may have. They’re able to take that to the charge RPN or the wellness manager or the general manager, and then further action can be taken from there.

Food is generally the number one thing that residents have to look forward to, other than the social events. With so many different people and different likes and dislikes, it can be a challenge to get a menu that everybody likes. Our focus is on having alternate meals, and we have food committees. So when there is a seasonal change, the food service manager comes and meets with the residents and the food committee to talk about those changes and what types of things they like. We do try to incorporate those in the menu process.

My office is down from the kitchen, so I smell the food all the time. I don’t think I have a favorite, but I do like cookies. I like the fresh-baked cookies that come out of the kitchen.

That would be more specific to the food service manager, but basically, they do follow the Canada Food Guide. Then it’s really the residents and any of the specific diets that residents may have that you try to incorporate as much as possible.

We just finished in 2016 the redevelopment of our long-term care home. We were one of the first in the province since 2015 to actually be able to redevelop, and that was very helpful in revitalizing the grounds and the buildings and those sorts of things.

For the retirement homes, our focus is to stay small. The size of the company that we are allows me to maintain the hands-on approach. That is really our niche and our focus, to do what we do well and not get too large that we lose focus on that.

Visit as many homes as you can because they all have uniqueness about their design, the rooms, and the amenities. They can all be very different. It’s about finding that right fit for the lifestyle that the family and the resident want to have for their future. One size doesn’t fit all.

There are lots of new opportunities with homes being developed and built. There are lots of opportunities for technology that are coming down the line. But really it comes down to the home, the team members in that home, and that fit, that feel for the resident. Is this where they feel like they’re home? That can be different in any site that they may go to and choose.

That’s really what we’re here to do for those who walk through our doors. If they feel that homey atmosphere, our goal is to make our home feel like home right from when you enter. A lot of that starts with people.