GrumbleSmiles

Retirement villages should be a genuine partnership between residents and staff.  For residents to take advantage of all the lifestyle opportunities, they need support from a management team that has a “can do culture”.  The management team’s focus needs to be on the life of the residents and not on the administration of a housing project or the regulation of care, important as both those issues are.  Residents need to like the staff and the staff need to like the residents, which is an obvious thing to say but it doesn’t always happen.  Not all residents are reasonable and not all staff are perfect.  Mistakes happen.  The important thing to remember is that the entire village needs to be “One Big Team”.

Many of the pressures on management are driven by day-to-day administrative and financial issues.  The safety and security agendas of regulators focus entirely on tick box procedures and often fail to see the bigger picture.  The management team needs to ensure that this doesn’t impact negatively on the service they provide.  These are not either / or options, the management challenge is to ensure there is an appropriate balance between the issues.

Because the residents effectively provide all the funds for the village and as a result of their prominent role as volunteers in running the village, they are entitled to a transparent view of all aspects of the village operation.  The residents should be provided with all the facts and figures of the operation and there should be an open book approach to the financial accounts.  Open and regular two-way communication is an essential part of this process.  Where communication breaks down, gossip and the grapevine will fill the void with mis-information.  There needs to be a whole variety of ways of achieving a healthy flow of  information :-

• Walking the floor – the best of all management techniques providing you listen and act on what you hear, not just on what you are told.
• Suggestions – often under-rated they can be an invaluable supply of new ideas do should be encouraged at every opportunity.
• Small group meetings – either on special subjects or to generally update people.
• Surveys – of bigger issues with the results fed back and discussed openly, and compared with other villages.

Most of all what the village needs is courageous and ambitious leadership.  This is not at all easy to do with a community of several hundred residents.  Many will have different views on issues and in every community there’s at least one “Barrack Room Lawyer”.  The manager’s job is to build bridges between the various interests, but occasionally stand their ground when non-negotiable aspects of the culture are challenged.  As far as possible, it is important to maintain a flexible and open approach to everything with as few rules as possible.

A new retirement village with its range of communal facilities is the start of a new community for older people.    Typically comprising around 250 apartments, a village hall, a shop, restaurant,  bar, coffee lounge, library, craft room, computer suite, fitness centre, greenhouse and outdoor courtyards, sitting areas and a bowling green.     It will have a team of hospitality and care staff,  a wellbeing nurse, a fitness instructor, an admin team, an activities/volunteer coordinator and probably a dementia specialist.   It is a bigger and better resource than would generally be available in a local neighbourhood.

It is important that the retirement village does not become a ” gated community” insulated from it local surroundings.   With its wide range of facilities and its qualified staff team, it can make a positive contribution to the whole of the neighbourhood in which its located.  It can also specifically reach out to older people with a supportive service that can enable them to live in their own homes in the community.

The most obvious thing the village team can do is to provide an outreach domiciliary care team for those older people with care needs who still live in their own home near to the village.  The village restaurant could also provide a “meals on wheels” service to those people who can’t come into the village.

The village’s focus on good health can be extended into the community by inviting them to take part in the well being programme provided by a qualified nurse.  In turn for some people this could be linked to a health improvement programme using the village’s fitness centre.  Rehabilitation programmes after hospital stays or falls at home, could also be provided by this team in association with their GP.

All the village facilities would be available to everyone of all ages in the surrounding community for a small annual membership fee.

Another key feature of the village is that it should provide “a bridge between generations”, the following are some examples within my own experience, particularly with the ExtraCare Charitable Trusts of how this can be accomplished:-

• The local nursery/primary school could access a village full of “grannies and grandpas”.
• The secondary school could provide a host of  “apprentice work experience” for students who are considering a career in social care.  Projects could include researching residents’ lives and building a “book of life” for older people; outward bound courses for young and old together; gadget training in exchange for cookery classes; retired teachers could do one-to-one coaching on reading, maths etc.
• If there are higher education, colleges or universities in the local area, their students could get volunteering experience by providing one-to-one support with new technology.

It is not the intention that the retirement village replaces existing voluntary activity groups in the surrounding community.  Rather, it would be the intention to enhance the existing groups and make sure they are accessible who lives in the village.   Small, local voluntary organisations are often hard pressed for funds and volunteers,  the retirement village has the potential to provide both.

Outreach into the community is not an easy thing to do because the village manager and their team understandably make the residents who live in the village their first priority.  Equally, many residents are content to stay in the village where they feel “safe and secure”.  However, if the village is to remain a vibrant part of the surrounding neighbourhood, it’s everyone’s job in the village to think beyond the walls.  Some good examples of this are:-

• Residents supporting local charities where they have a personal interest.
• Residents donating surplus goods to charity shops when they first move into the village.
• Residents acting as volunteers in local community groups.
• The voluntary groups themselves extending their services into the village and making use of the village facilities.

My post next week will discuss the final aspect of retirement villages which is the management team.  Thereafter I will draw all these threads together in a final post on this subject.

The key issue with retirement villages is that they should offer people a range of new opportunities in later life.    So many of the alternative retirement housing models are perceived by older people as a last resort option.    Residential care homes are the last place anybody wants to go to, no matter how good they might be in terms of the care they offer.    Sadly, many of them are rightly renowned for offering no real care at all.  The public sector sheltered housing model and its private alternative of retirement housing is focused on “safety and security” but generally offers no significant support for health and care requirements.    It is essential that Community Retirement Villages significantly transcend these other models.

In a retirement village you are living independently in your own home, whether you rent it, are a part share-owner or own it outright.    The important thing is that you can live the life you want and can join in as much or a little as you like.    In this environment, it is hard to be lonely because so many people around you are in the same situation themselves.    The host of activities are moulded around the skills and interests of the residents and you are free to take part in an active community life.

Volunteering is a central part of the retirement village culture which promotes an ethos of neighbourliness and helping each other.    In turn that means that residents are at the forefront of the reception and manage many of the facilities such as the coffee bar, the library, the craft room and many of the activities.    They also support staff in running the shop, the fitness suite, the well-being programme, the catering and the dementia support.    Many of these examples are more fully described in my earlier blogs which you can find by clicking on “Retirement Housing” in the TOPICS list.

Another essential feature of retirement villages has to be a focus on “well-being”.   This is the reverse side of the”safety and security” model of retirement housing.    It offers people the encouragement to look after their own health by giving them the support of a well-being nurse to monitor their own health and the opportunity of a fitness suite to stay fit or to provide rehabilitation after a period of ill health.

Finally, as you age in the community, if your frailty increases, you are able to access additional support with housekeepingand care.     You will also be provided with professional support to ensure that you are able to access the full range of welfare benefits which are often underclaimed because of their complexity.

Establishing this culture of an active lifestyle, volunteering and promotion of well-being is fundamental to differentiating the Retirement Village from the previous models.   Without these elements the village is just a large sheltered housing scheme.    The culture needs to be primed and encouraged by a skilled team of enabling staff.    I will expand on this in my next post on this subject.