Business View - August 2015 147
apartment units. Rent charges are approximately 80
percent of the average market rate, and are available
to seniors whose income qualify them for this type of
subsidized, social housing.
Sinclair adds, “To complement all the various levels of
housing, we have a whole suite of services we provide,
so depending on which type of housing they live in, if
they don’t have any services included, they can pick
and choose if they want to purchase services; so if
they want nursing care, if they want to purchase meal
services, we customize it to whatever their needs and
wants are – housekeeping, cleaning, laundry, etc.”
In addition, all Georgian Village residents, regardless
of what type of housing they inhabit, have access to
the Georgian Rendezvous and Village Center. The
Rendezvous is the central gathering spot for the en-
tire community and offers a variety of social and rec-
reational spaces. “The Rendezvous houses anything
that you’d see in a community center – a restaurant,
a pharmacy, a convenience store, a hair salon, a hear-
ing clinic, a wellness clinic with a family health team,
a nurse practitioner, and a host of other amenities,
including a library, a community greenhouse, a wood-
working shop, and a fitness center. And we’re building
a therapeutic pool and spa area. We’ve really tried to
pack as much into this campus as we can to promote
the whole aging in place model – it’s kind of one-stop
shopping.” The Village also hosts paved walking and
cycling paths, bocce ball and shuffleboard courts, and
putting greens. “We’ve tried to build into the campus
most of the things that you or I would if we were living
in our own home,” says Sinclair.
Sinclair sees the partnerships that Georgian Village
makes as key to its ongoing mission to provide the
highest level of services to its senior population. For
example, she is working with the town so that they can
bring local senior groups to the site to utilize its ameni-
ties. A partnership with nearby Georgian College has
resulted in a Registered Practical Nurse satellite pro-
gram being instituted on campus. In 2014, the County
received the prestigious Peter J. Marshall Award for its
Georgian Village Redevelopment project. The Award
recognizes “those municipal governments demon-
strating excellence in the use of innovative approach-
es to improve capital and/or operating efficiency, and
to generate effectiveness through alternative service
delivery initiatives and partnerships.”
Sinclair believes that the Georgian Village model will
soon become more and more common as the Baby
Boom Generation ages, fomenting an increase in the
need for more senior housing and services. And, in-
deed, there is growing interest in the concept across
Canada and elsewhere. “This is innovation at its best.
This is about thinking outside the box and creating
new ways to deliver service that better meets current
HEALTHCARE
