Posts by Kathy Barthel:
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Report: 50 and Over: What’s Next? The oldest members of the first ‘youth’ generation, the boomers, have spent their lives transforming every aspect of popular culture. That means we all have a vested interest in what they’ll do next. A new report from AARP called, “50 and Over: What’s Next?” takes a closer look at what marketers can learn about this [...] |
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Comfort Life 2012: Call for Editorial We are working on the 2012 issue of Comfort Life magazine and we are looking for your input! Our editorial goal for 2012 is to give readers an even deeper sense of the life lived in retirement communities. Seven Pillars of a Fulfilling Retirement We will be building on the seven pillars of a fulfilling [...] |
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WEBINAR: How to get media attention for your retirement community To reach seniors and boomers in today’s cluttered marketplace you need to understand—and know how to work with—the media. If they’re listening to your message you can be sure that your prospects are too. This webinar will show you how the media thinks and what they want. You will learn how to construct a successful [...] |
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Remembrance Day Video: “Honour: Their Stories, Our History” Last year, Chartwell Seniors Housing REIT published the book, “Honour” featuring interviews with WWII veterans who were also Charwell residents. The book commemorated the 65th anniversary of the end of The Second World War. Many of those interviews were filmed and they make up the moving new documentary, “Honour: Their Stories, Our History” that Chartwell [...] |
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OACAO Conference: Aging issues for LGBT seniors Last month Comfort Life was fortunate to be a presenter and exhibitor at the Older Adult Centres’ of Ontario (OACAO) Conference in Ottawa. There were many great presentations to attend and so many wonderful people to meet—what an incredibly welcoming group! One of the presentations that got very good feedback was the one about aging [...] |
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From Your Residents: Why It’s Great to be a Senior On October 1st, seniors across Canada celebrated the first ever National Seniors Day. To honour the occasion, Comfort Life asked older adults why it’s great to be a senior. Based on the variety of events that retirement communities planned for National Seniors Day—including a seniors flash mob at Coquitlam Mall in British Columbia!—Edith’s answer is [...] |
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Chartwell REIT celebrates staff with a new book At last year’s BCSLA conference, plenary speaker Stuart Ellis-Myers (“Uniquely Speaking Inc.”) talked about the importance of promoting staff by showing a video of an amazing housekeeper. She was so proud of her work, of having prepared thousands of guest rooms during her career and she was so full of warmth. Even more memorable was [...] |
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The Future of the Retirement Residence Industry Where is the retirement residence industry going? What is its future—and ours? The question is on everyone’s mind given the growing aging-in-place movement, boomers who may choose other alternatives and seniors whose budgets require more modestly priced options. To discover how we can attract the residents of the future, we asked Elaine Wood (Delmanor Seniors [...] |
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Celebrating ORCA Conference 2011! It was great to see everyone at this year’s ORCA conference at the beautiful Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood. The event was a first for me and for our new communications manager, Noel Ocol. We’re excited to share with you two editorial videos that were shot at the conference. Scroll down to hear what advice [...] |
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Comfort Life’s partnership with OACAO brings seniors to you! It is my pleasure to share with you the exciting news that Comfort Life is the official retirement residence search on the Older Adult Centres’ Association of Ontario (OACAO) website! This addition is designed to help boomers and seniors easily find retirement communities that are located near older adult centres. To see how it works, [...] |
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Seniors tell Comfort Life what they want in retirement residence living Comfort Life recently held a focus group with members of a local older adult centre and I wanted to share with you some of their responses. Seniors ranged in age from mid 80s to 92 and included men and women. They were asked for their feedback on the 2011 issue of Comfort Life magazine—including a [...] |
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What kind of boomers will your future residents be—and what will they want? Michael Adams, co-founder of Environics and author of the recent book, “Stayin’ Alive: How Canadian baby boomers will work, play and find meaning in the second half of their adult lives,” spoke at the ORCA/OLTCA conference earlier this month. Adams outlined the four different types of boomers that he calls, “tribes”. The first two are [...] |
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Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlife Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlife David Eagleman (The Penguin Group) $16.00 Are you having one of those days? Not sure if your work is really making an impact? Then pick up a copy of Sum by American neuroscientist David Eagleman. Eagleman has imagined 40 quirky little tales of heaven and hell in a funny, [...] |
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The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web Tamar Weinberg (O’Reilly Media, Inc.) $31.99 If there’s one book about social media marketing that you should have on your shelf, this is it. Written by Internet marketing consultant Tamar Weinberg, the book is laid out in easy-to-follow sections covering everything from what makes social media [...] |
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Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com, Inc. (Business Plus, Hachette Book Group) $28.99 Ever since he was nine, Tony Hsieh wanted to make money. His first business was an unsuccessful ant farm, but eventually he succeeded spectacularly: LinkExchange, which he co-founded in 1996, was sold two years later [...] |
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Trillium Health Centre unveils vision for seniors’ health and wellness complex Comfort Life Media recently spoke to Janet Davidson, O.C., President and CEO, Trillium Health Centre, about Trillium’s vision for its future seniors’ health and wellness complex and how it will provide new housing and care options for Toronto seniors and their families. How will Trillium Health Centre’s seniors health and wellness complex compare to many [...] |
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Comfort Life magazine: New vision for 2011 As the retirement residence industry continues to battle the negative public perception of ‘nursing homes’ as well as the push for seniors to stay at home, it is vital that we show the rich quality of life available in retirement communities and how financially accessible they are. 2011 marks our biggest transformation to date into [...] |
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Comfort Life launches revised retirement home search site Comfort Life Media, a division of Our Kids Media has launched a striking revision of Top Retirement Homes. The newly revamped website is set to become a critical tool for Canadians searching for senior housing and for retirement home marketers across the country. Starting from its premium domain name and extending through many bold new [...] |
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10 reasons you should be blogging right now Can’t afford the time to blog? You can’t afford not to: Blogging helps you build relationships with potential prospects because they can interact with you by commenting on your posts and asking questions. Prospects will be more inclined to contact you when they decide to explore retirement residence options because they already know you. Your [...] |
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David Foot: what boomers really want in retirement living We posed a few questions about the future of retirement communities to demographer and author David Foot recently (Boom, Bust & Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift). He didn’t disappoint…: Should we be designing retirement communities for the younger senior driving up on his motorcycle rather than the older seniors who are [...] |
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The Hallmark of Abbotsford is community It was easy to be moved by Hallmark Retirement Corporation’s presentation on community involvement at last month’s BCSLA conference. The sincerity of owner Stan Hindmarsh and his Abbotsford, B.C. team was evident in what they shared with us including the importance they place on staff well-being, their experiences in Guatemala where residents and staff work [...] |
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Stop Designing 8-Track Residences Architect George Berry of Berry Architecture in Red Deer Alberta, gave a thought-provoking and at times controversial presentation about retirement residence design at the BCSLA conference. According to Berry, we are basically designing the same retirement residences we designed 30 years ago; we are just putting different paint on them. Berry used the old music [...] |
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Retirement Planning Association of Canada: Conference Highlights The Retirement Planning Association of Canada (RPAC) takes a holistic view of retirement by integrating both its financial and lifestyle aspects. Their conference this month reflected that broad focus with an excellent and varied roster of presenters including Dr. Amy D’Aprix, gerontologist and advisor to BMO Financial Group who spoke about the three stages of [...] |
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Comfort Life Relaunch – Meeting of the Minds Nov 2010 Since 2001, Comfort Life – Canada’s Guide To Retirement Communities, has been helping seniors find retirement homes that meet their needs. This year marks a shift in the vision of Comfort Life with the changes in the landscape of media and marketing. Here’s a glimpse at what’s to come. We hope you’ll join us. Below [...] |
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Inside Revera’s move to acquire Comcare This month, retirement residence operator Revera entered into an agreement to acquire Canadian home care provider, Comcare Limited. The deal which is expected to close in early January 2011, will increase Revera’s home care division to approximately 4,600 people and create one of Canada’s largest home care providers operating in 29 cities across seven provinces. [...] |
