The year 2023 was not only a momentous one for the Gulf Islands Seniors Residence Association (GISRA); it was also pivotal. We celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the opening of Meadowbrook, the island’s first not-for-profit residence designed to serve the island’s Seniors, but we also grappled with the financial feasibility of building a second such residence.
Twenty years ago in September, Meadowbrook opened its doors to 41 incoming Salt Spring Seniors, many of whom had been so eager for an island home in a congregant setting where they could receive a bit of support from each other as well as from staff that they had joined many island volunteers and donors who helped to build it. And they planned the individual transitions from their homes into Meadowbrook so well that all 37 suites were occupied within just three weeks. Over the past 20 years, Meadowbrook has provided a safe and secure home for 205 of Salt Spring’s Seniors.
Meanwhile, the island’s population of Seniors has grown and, in 2017, in response to perceived demand, the board undertook a serious effort to build a second residence, soon dubbed “Meadowlane” as an amalgamation of “Meadow” from our first building and “lane” from a property GISRA had purchased on which to build the new residence—Kings Lane. Architects were hired and the site was prepared, but the project was heavily dependent on obtaining generous government grants. Due in part to the inopportune timing of a federal election call in late 2019 quickly followed by the Covid outbreak in early 2020, those hoped-for grants were not received. Since then, despite a variety of efforts, we have been unable to qualify for funding for the construction of a second residence designed for Seniors seeking a congregant setting combined with a variety of services.
Meanwhile, the desire of Seniors to remain in their own homes, commonly called “aging in place,” has increased dramatically. This is not merely a local phenomenon, but it is the case nationwide. Indeed, the CBC reported as recently as June 2, 2024, in a report titled “Growing Older, Staying at Home,” that increasingly Seniors are choosing either to remain in their own homes or to opt for “naturally occurring retirement communities,” such as two or three Seniors joining together to share a home and their expenses and bringing in support services as they need them. Surveys conducted on behalf of the BC Care Providers Association, show province-wide independent-living facilities are now operating at 88 percent capacity and that 98 percent of BC residents over 65 are choosing to remain in their own homes, at least “until something happens.”
Unfortunately, the “something” that happens can result in a person requiring a level of support known as “assisted living.” Anyone unable to look after the activities of daily living (“ADL”) such as personal hygiene or grooming, dressing, toileting, transferring or ambulating, and eating on their own, makes them, by definition, ineligible for independent living in a facility such as Meadowbrook. Aside from sudden events such as a stroke that can result in needing major assistance, one thing that often “happens” to Seniors is the inability to foresee that “creeping decrepitude” can also result in the need for assisted living. Staff have reported that potential residents who, when they finally consider themselves to be “ready” for Meadowbrook, are sometimes surprised to learn that Meadowbrook is not an assisted living facility.
In 2023, the board and senior staff devoted substantial time to exploring whether we should reimagine Meadowlane as offering both independent and assisted living. We learned that it requires not only adhering to more demanding building code requirements—requiring a new architectural redesign and resulting in greater building expenses—but also, we would need to recruit and provide housing for appropriately-trained staff. All of this would necessitate the need to reassess our rental structure to enable us to cover a significantly higher mortgage as well as ongoing operating costs. So, the board concluded that it would be best not to pursue this idea further.
Meanwhile, only seventeen among the sixty-nine Seniors who had ever signed up for a Meadowlane suite, first announced in February of 2018, remained on that list. Given the option of joining the Meadowbrook list, only five chose to do so, retaining their order of precedence according to when they first made their deposit for a suite in Meadowlane. The remainder chose to accept the return of their deposits with two still thinking about it. And so, twenty years after Meadowbrook opened, the GISRA board closed the Meadowlane file.
Currently, BC Housing is leasing our Kings Lane property for temporary housing for some of the potential residents of the Drake Road property that BC Housing is supporting. This provides the time necessary for us to explore whether GISRA might be able to help address the extraordinary housing shortage that working families in our community are experiencing. So, in October of 2023, only one month after our grand celebration of Meadowbrook’s twentieth anniversary, the GISRA board unanimously authorized Harry Barnes, the Executive Director, (together with housing consultant Janis Gauthier) to undertake the exploration of options for the Kings Lane property.
In closing, I would like to mention that I joined the GISRA board in 2020, early in the pandemic. It wasn’t long before I found myself serving as your vice president and I have been your president since 2021. During that time, we hired Harry Barnes as executive director, Christina Antonick as GISRA board assistant and Meadowbrook administrator, and Keena Hicken-Gaberria as our CFO. Each of them is performing at an outstanding level, and we are equally pleased with the performance of our entire staff. Their dedication to our residents is heartwarming.
Finally, I would like to say a few words about our board. Linda Adams, our vice president, formerly chief administrator of the Islands Trust, brings a knowledge of Islands Trust rules and regulations that is proving to be indispensable; Richard Carlin, our treasurer for the past four years, helped to oversee the forensic audit of GISRA books and the update of our financial policy; Stan Shapiro, our secretary, has a keen eye for detail and wisdom that has proved invaluable; and Peter Spencer, a business man with island family ties dating back several generations, provides a business perspective that has been instrumental to some of our decision-making. New this year are Mike Garside, retired Seafirst Insurance executive and active Rotary member, and Gord Koppang, a newly retired Vancouver developer and builder of “affordable housing.” Both have attended a couple of board meetings and have already provided important insights into some of the challenges we will encounter as we move forward with plans to develop the Kings Lane site. I feel confident that the Gulf Islands Seniors Residence Association, Meadowbrook, and our Kings Lane redevelopment plans are in excellent hands.
It has been my pleasure to have served as the president of GISRA for three years and it is now time for me to reduce some of my responsibilities. So, it is with a mixture of relief as well as personal renewal, that I announce that I am not only stepping down as president but also as a member of the board. I extend my very best wishes to the remaining board and to the staff and residents of Meadowbrook and I promise that I will use some of my “free time” to make myself “ready” to move into Meadowbrook when my turn rolls around.
With love and respect,
Helen Hinchliff
President
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