What is a Campus of Care?
Not long ago, people grew older surrounded by families, friends, and all the services that had sustained them in their younger years. These days, few families have the financial option of having one adult at home full time to see to Uncle John’s or Auntie Em’s care. For those that do, should an emergency arise, it’s not always possible to get a quick enough response.
In the last century, to address concerns like these we began housing seniors with needs for similar levels of support together. This ensured that emergency care was on hand when it was needed, and that older adults were able to spend time with peers.
But there are disadvantages to that approach, too, such as sometimes needing to separate couples with vastly different care needs, or uprooting people when their needs for support advance. Issues like these have given rise to a new model of senior housing called a “Campus of Care”.
A campus of care is a planned community that provides a range of housing options and services within a single community. For example, the campus might include four units and/or buildings—one unit each for servicing a retirement living, supported living, assisted living, and continuing care needs.
The Retirement Living building is much like any other apartment building, perhaps with studio suites for singles and one-bedroom apartments for couples. People live independently within a community of peers and may participate in group activities organized by hospitality staff.
The Supported Living building is similar, but includes a large kitchen and a common dining room so that residents can share one or more meals per day. Hospitality staff provides housekeeping, responds to emergencies, and organizes in-house activities, such as continuing education or fitness classes, and offsite trips to the theatre or the museum.
The Assisted Living building offers all the same features as supported living, and incorporates personal care options. For example, care staff may help residents get to and from meals or activities, get washed and dressed, or take physician-prescribed medications on schedule.
The fourth building provides services typical of a Care Home. Residents generally have significant needs for personal or medical care. While the rooms are similar in layout to those in the assisted living building, residents have access to nursing and personal care staff around the clock, and eat all meals in the communal dining room.
The division of services is not the same on every campus of care. For example, one community might combine supported and assisted living in a single building, with residents selecting and paying for personal care options as their needs arise without having to move to different buildings or homes.
Residents across the campus typically have access to a variety of onsite services, such as:
- A wellness clinic, with a physician, optometrist, dentist, and perhaps other health services.
- Retail services, such as a hair salon/barber shop, a corner store, and maybe a coffee shop.
- A branch of the local library or community centre, and maybe a non-denominational chapel.
The “Campus of Care” combines many of the advantages of other care models and overcomes many of the disadvantages. For example, a couple can stay together, even though one’s care needs exceed the others. For people who age in “place”, in a community and with people they know, tend to stay healthy longer, simply because they are happier.
A campus of care is good for the surrounding community as well as the seniors who live there. In our busy world, families often live far apart. Children sometimes miss out on relationships with older adults, and older adults often crave contact with younger people. Having a wellness clinic, library, or community centre on a campus of care at the heart of the surrounding community creates opportunities to bring children, teens, adults, and seniors together in natural, healthy contact across the generations. Some campuses even include hospice care for children, youth, and younger adults with recurring health needs, extending that web of community contact and caring even further.
A campus of care is an idea whose time has come - only you and your loved one can decide if it’s an idea whose time has come for you.
