The retirement industry as a community – sharing of news and anything else.
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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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From Your Residents: “Why Remembrance Day is Important to Me” To commemorate Remembrance Day and to honour those who fought for our freedom, Comfort Life asked your residents to tell us what this day means to them. Their reflections were turned into a video called, “Why Remembrance Day Is Important to Me”. We send our sincere thanks to all the residents and retirement communities who [...] |
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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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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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Is there too much fun in fitness classes? Do our retirement communities and residences have beautifully laid out and furnished fitness areas that gather dust? Do we have exercise classes that are either poorly attended or emphasize fun over fitness? Do we rob our residents of building physical activity into their daily lives by taking away some of life’s challenges for the sake [...] |
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Young and Old Alike The grade fivers came to the Coldstream Meadows Retirement Community in 2001 with misconceptions. Some feared they might get bored sitting around talking to seniors; others hoped to get out of their normal classroom work. They soon found out that going to school in a retirement residence was not boring and had plenty to teach [...] |
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Pets Speak Our Language Most days Tofa, ”a lady of leisure,” lazes gracefully in the reception area of the Baker Centre in Toronto, welcoming visitors, watching as they sign in and out. Tofa, a white Persian cat, is one of many participants in our pet therapy program at Baker Centre. A marmalade cat lives quietly in the activity office [...] |
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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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Facing changes in senior care together Report from the Together We Care Conference 2010 (hosted by ORCA and OLTCA) “We need wider consultations in a time of change; we need to talk to other decision-makers,” says Jane Barratt, Secretary General of the International Federation of Aging She mentions urban planners and architects but her list is clearly longer. It’s collective action [...] |
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Happy baseball birthday It was a perfect day for Lilian McCullagh to hit a home run. A lifelong baseball fan and an ardent supporter of the Toronto Blue Jays, Lilian told staff at Touchmark at Wedgewood in Edmonton how she wanted to celebrate her 106th birthday: “I would love to play baseball,” she said. That was all the [...] |
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Moving to the Music Daren Swanson and Lisa Nicole are first-hand witnesses to the power of music. As Alchemy unplugged, the talented duo has played seven years for a variety of audiences, many at retirement residences in southern Ontario. “I love singing, playing guitar and making people feel good,” Swanson says. Their concerts for seniors include a wide variety [...] |
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An Opportunity to Celebrate A 93-year-old man works his way slowly to the stage. Since he’s blind, he is offered some assistance to navigate safely. He begins to play, hesitates and announces that he doesn’t like the way the piano is tuned. Completely unfazed, he turns to the contestant who just finished performing and asks to borrow his guitar. [...] |
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Ontario moves on regulation The provincial government’s move to regulate all of Ontario’s retirement residences will bring standards to an estimated 30 per cent of the industry that is not currently accredited by the Ontario Retirement Communities Association (ORCA). The regulations are expected to set standards for safety and staff training and provide a resident’s bill of rights. They [...] |
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Into the Pool for Massage Aquatic massage therapy at Riverside Court in New Brunswick Seniors can relax in the 96-degree therapy pool at Riverside Court Retirement Residence in Woodstock, N.B. They also have a registered massage therapist regularly on site. But even better, the therapist, Mary O’Leary, is also trained and approved to do aquatic massage therapy. An emerging alternative [...] |
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New national alliance on seniors’ housing Over the last year, Canadian retirement residence operators and their associations have formed a national alliance that can speak and act on senior housing issues. It is currently setting priorities and planning future meetings. The Canadian Alliance for Seniors’ Living (CASL) has been formed as an outcome of a national seniors’ housing think tank hosted [...] |
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Amica gala supports Helping Hands “An Evening of Delicious Amusement”– fine dining, music, magic, mime, and an auction — brought Amica staff, volunteers and corporate partners together for a good cause this fall in Toronto. After starting in one residence, the Helping Hands Community Program designed to bring a better quality of life for marginalized seniors, has spread across Amica [...] |
