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Manoir Ste. Anne in Falher is one of the apartments Heart River Housing operates. There are 29 units available at the complex, all which are currently full with a waiting list also active. - photo Faye Welch
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Susan Thompson
Smoky River Express
Thanks to advances in health care, we are all living longer these days, often 30 or more years past retirement age.
As we age, it becomes very important to be able to find ways to keep living with dignity, as independently as possible, and with a good quality of life.
But the needs of seniors also change depending on health, mobility, and a host of other issues.
Choosing the right housing and care means balancing the need for the comforts of home while also making sure our parents, grandparents, or ourselves can get any extra support we might need.
So what choices do seniors in our area have when it comes to housing, and how can they access the different types of senior accommodations that are available?
According to the Alberta government’s continuing care website, there are three main types of continuing care services in the province.
Independent or home living is for people able to continue to live in their own home, apartment, or condo and may also include home care or support services. Supportive living is for those who need accommodations with other supports and care, but is not for those with complex or serious health needs.
Facility living, which is also sometimes called long-term or continuing care, provides care to people with health needs too complex to be dealt with in an independent or supportive living situation, and includes facilities like nursing homes and auxiliary hospitals.
Heart River Housing (HRH), based in High Prairie, delivers social housing services for seniors in partnership with the province of Alberta.
HRH operates three senior citizen lodges housing 150 clients, 140 senior self contained units in seven communities, and 148 subsidized family housing units in 10 communities.
The organization also administers the Rent Supplement Program assisting 128 individuals or families in private accommodations across the region.
As CAO of HRH of Alberta, Pat Billings is responsible for directing the operations of the organization, ensuring the efficient and effective delivery of services and overall administration of programs.
“There are a number of different options in our area for seniors still able to live independently,” Billings says.
In McLennan HRH operates the Legion Manor East which has 11 senior self contained units, and the Legion Manor West which has six senior self contained units. Units are currently available at either building.
In Donnelly, the Residence de Pionniers I and Residence de Pionniers II both have eight units and vacancies.
In Girouxville, there are vacancies at Golden Age Manor I, which has six units, and Golden Age Manor II, which has eight units.
In Falher, the 29 units at Manoir Ste Anne are currently all full with a wait list, and the Villa Four-Plex is also full with a wait list. As for supportive housing (lodge), the Villa Beausejour has 69 rooms and 77 residents, and is full with a waiting list.
In the independent living buildings, any extra services have to be arranged by seniors and their families themselves.
“There are no personal services provided by HRH in the senior self contained apartments,” explains Billings.
“Home care and/or FCSS may provide some individuals with services. The only difference between these buildings and other private buildings in the community would be that there is an age requirement (target 65 plus) and the rents are based on rent-geared-to-income (RGI).
“Rent is calculated at 30 per cent of income with a maximum rent set at each building. For example, Manoir Ste Anne has a maximum rent of $550 per month. If your monthly income was $1200 your basic rent would be $360.”
For those seniors who need extra help, the Villa Beausejour might be a better option.
“The Villa Beausejour provides rooms, meals, housekeeping, personal laundry, security, and recreational opportunities. Rates at the lodge are set by the size of the unit you are renting. A single senior pays $890 to $990 per month at the lodge. Personal and health services are delivered by home care in the lodge,” says Billings.
Another possibility is the Manoir du Lac in McLennan, which is a designated assisted living facility.
However, HRH does not administer the Manoir du Lac. Forty-six of the units at the Manoir are administered by Peace Country Health through a contract with Integrated Life Care Inc. Twenty units are allocated for continuing, or long-term care purposes, with the other 26 units earmarked for supportive assisted living purposes.
In order to be placed in any of the units that Heart River Housing operates, seniors need to complete an application.
For the lodge, HRH also requires that they complete a medical with their doctor.
“Once the application is completed the site manager would point score the application based on criteria set out by the Alberta Housing Act Regulations,” explains Billings.
The criteria used to score applications are slightly different for the self contained apartments and the lodges, since they are two different programs.
“Once the application is completed the site manager would point score the application based on criteria set out by the Alberta Housing Act Regulations,” explains Billings.
The criteria used to score applications are slightly different for the self contained apartments and the lodges, since they are two different programs.
“In the self contained apartments the criteria used include percent of rent to income, whether seniors are in an emergency situation, if a member of the household has accessibility issues, if the household is currently overcrowded, and if the current accommodation is detrimental to the applicant’s health. These are all given a weighted score.”
“Once the scoring is complete and there is no vacancy the applicants are put on a wait list. This wait list is maintained in the ranked order. The applicant with the highest points would be the next ones offered a unit when it came available.”
The point scores for people applying to the lodge include additional criteria.
“The lodge point score also considers the applicants’ nutritional needs, life enrichment needs, access to service requirements, their current environment, and physical and mental well being. Home care nurses may be asked to assist the site manager when assessing a potential lodge client as they may have been involved with the applicant in their own home.”
In both cases Billings says that having been on the wait list longer than someone else doesn’t necessarily mean you get a unit first, since applications are processed based on score, not time on wait lists.
“Time on the wait list is only considered when two applicants have the same point score,” she says.
Those wait times depend on which building and unit a senior is applying to live in.
“Wait times vary depending on demand,” Billings says. “As there are limited services in Girouxville and Donnelly we find our seniors with mobility or driving issues want to be in McLennan and Falher. Turnover varies at all places, usually dependent upon the tenants’ health.”
But Billings says there are enough independent living units to fill the need in our area.
She adds that there also seems to be enough supportive living units, saying, “The supportive living (lodge) also appears to be filling the needs [of seniors] as the wait list is short and the length of time waiting has not been more than a few months.”
However, Billings notes that the demographics of our area mean that we have a higher number of seniors than other places in the province, and that trend is likely to continue.
Meanwhile, Deb Guerette of Peace Country Health says that wait times for continuing or long-term care spaces in the McLennan area are actually the lowest in the region, thanks to the designated assisted living units available at the Manoir du Lac.
For those seniors who feel they have been waiting too long to get into a unit administered by Heart River Housing, or who have any problems with their current residence, Billings says that HRH is willing to help.
“Heart River Housing supports ongoing open communication with the public and tenants regarding expected standards, policies and practices. If an individual is concerned with the processes or decisions made they are encouraged to take their concern up with facility management first, the CAO secondly. If the matter is still not resolved they may request to be placed on the Agenda of a Board of Directors Meeting as a delegation, or they could provide written documentation to be presented at a board meeting.”
Carol Wodak of Continuing Care Watch, an organization that advocates for seniors, says that wait times for all types of housing have generally become a problem across the province. She says that seniors have other options for getting help.
“Talk to the facility operator first, of course, and then write to health region officials, the Alberta Health Services Board, your MLA, and the Ministers of Health and of Seniors, the Premier,” she says. But she cautions, “There is no effective concerns investigation or resolution agency; the role of the Ombudsman is extremely limited.”
