Housing providers are creating communities where residents can move from one care option to the next as their health needs change.

Independent living. Assisted living. Residential care. As we age and our care needs change, some of us may need all three of these housing options. And moving to a new home in a new community can be stressful. Now, housing providers are starting to create “campuses of care”: sites that offer different care options so seniors can move from one part of the development to another as their health needs change.

Vancouver’s first campus of care is Haro Park in the West End. Up until a year ago, the 25-year-old organization was home to 68 seniors living independently, as well as 154 others who required residential care. Thirty-six independent housing apartments were recently converted to a middle option—assisted living—making Haro Park a full campus.

Karen Baillie is Haro Park Centre’s acting executive director. “A campus of care supports the concept of aging in place,” she said. “We have about four couples whose care needs are different, but they are able to live on the same site. It means the world to them to still be able to visit one another and have meals together. It keeps them going.”

Retirement Concepts, a private developer, has built several campuses of care throughout the province. Nanaimo Seniors Village and The Waverly in Chilliwack are among them. Both offer independent housing, assisted living and residential care on one site. “Campuses seem to really help augment the health of a person in residential care when their spouse is living close by and is a vital part of their well-being,” said Mary McDougall, Retirement Concept’s chief operating officer. “We had seen a detrimental effect on the weaker partner when couples were separated. That was one of the reasons we wanted to create campuses.”

Good Samaritan Canada, a Lutheran social service organization, has also been building campuses of care in British Columbia. Its Penticton site offers assisted living and residential care, including dementia care. Its Kelowna site has independent housing and assisted living and has plans to expand to include residential care. The society will open assisted living homes, complex care and dementia cottages at its Gibsons site early next year. And ground was broken earlier this fall for its Vernon campus, which will include all types of care.

“When building a campus of care, you’re trying to build community,” said Doug Stickney, Good Samaritan Canada’s director of project development. “It should be representative of the needs of the community. Campuses give residents a better opportunity for integration and to share supports with one another.”

Kevin Svoboda’s company, Kaigo Retirement Communities, owns and operates Heritage Square, a campus of care in Vernon that offers assisted living and residential care. The company also owns and manages Pioneer Square, an assisted living home in Armstrong. “Offering more than one care option means a lot to seniors. Health authorities determine who has priority for subsidized assisted living homes and for residential care beds. In our case, it’s worked out very positively for our residents to move from one type of care to the next. If a bed is not immediately available in our residential care, we look for an alternative care plan in assisted living until we can accommodate them. We try to make the transition as smooth as possible.”

Eighty-eight-year-old William Haymond lives in assisted living at Heritage Square. His wife, Barbara, who passed away in September, lived downstairs in the site’s residential care facility for over two years. “For us, this was the perfect answer,” said Mr. Haymond. “Before moving here, I’d been living in a facility that changed from independent care to intensive care and I just couldn’t take it. My needs were better suited to assisted living and having Barbara so close by was ideal.”