Our FREE program was created to help families like yours find local Senior Living options. Tap into our years of experience, while we help you make informed decisions.
At no cost to you and without any obligation - ever!
We can help you find the care you need:
• Retirement Home Search Assist
• Short Stay, Respite, Convalescent Care
• HomeCare, HomeMaking & Aging at Home
• Long Term Care Navigation
• Rapid Resources & Referrals
We understand how Retirement Homes & LTC operates
The entire Solva team has more than 60 years combined experience in the Ottawa & Eastern Ontario Senior Living Sector!
Our team has either worked, managed, owned, operated local Retirement Homes, Assisted Living, Long Term Care Facilities and HomeCare Agencies. Our owner even teaches Retirement Communities Management at Algonquin College. We understand the operation of a home care agency, retirement home, assisted living residence and long term care facility better than any other independent advisor. Tap into our many years of experience and knowledge for FREE without obligation.
We are independent, impartial and unbiased. We partner with 90% of all retirement homes in Ottawa who have agreed to cover the cost of your search. However, we are the ONLY navigation program where our team is NOT paid by commission. They have no agenda to refer you to one residence over the next. They will provide referrals based on your individual needs, preferences, personality, goals and budget. This may include homes, services or programs that do not partner with us....and that is perfectly okay!
Solva also has exclusive relationships with various communities that provide us first access! We make it our goal to learn about every option in the Ottawa & Eastern Ontario area... especially all the new trends!
We are different because:
• 100% Free Service: Local retirement homes support our program to help you navigate options and make informed decisions.
• No Obligations: There are no surprise fees, contracts or obligations when using Solva. We will never charge you for answering your questions or to share resources that you may or may not use.
• Our Promise: We will look beyond those who partner with us to find the right fit based on your individual needs… which may include not moving at all.
• Our Goal. To help you save time and make informed decisions!
Free Resources
Click below for FREE educational resources. Spend less time researching & more quality time with loved ones!
Ottawa’s only Retirement Home Resource Centre
Schedule your in-person appointment with a Senior Living Consultant who can provide you with:
- Brochures for over 100 local retirement homes
- Virtual tours from our office
- Aging at home resources
- Downsizing resources
- Your free aging/eldercare planning toolkit
- Additional helpful resources all in one place.
Spend less time researching and more quality time with moved ones. Visit our resource center and get all your questions answered even some you might not have thought of. Open by apointment at 111-301 Moodie Drive.
What makes Solva different then other similar services?
For the past 10 years Solva has been built on industry knowledge, expertise and understanding. When you are speaking to a Solva adviser you are speaking to an inside expert who understands how retirement homes, long term care and eldercare services operate beyond the site level tour guide’s perspective. We are one of the only retirement home search programs where our team understands how these communities operate.
It all started with Solva’s owner Christine Forget has had a progressive career in Seniors Housing since 1996. She started in a Long Term Care facility in Cornwall, Ontario and gained an education in Long Term Care Management with the Canadian HealthCare Association. She then moved over to the private sector of Retirement Homes and Assisted Living in Ottawa where she held roles including Leasing Manager and General Manager. Latterly, she advanced into roles including a Regional Director for Revera Retirement Living and a Corporate Director for Leisureworld Senior Living. Her territory in this role was throughout the entire Eastern Ontario region including Ottawa, Brockville and Kingston.
Christine has been in every retirement community in Ottawa and has expertise on how both retirement communities and Long Term Care homes operate, with many stories of how others have found the right option based on their needs for today with the future in mind.
Christine has been a board member with the Ottawa Council on Aging, The Canadian Association of Retired Persons and is faculty for Algonquin College’s Retirement Communities Management Program. Christine is a sought after speaker and coach within the retirement living sector across Canada and internationally. She created Solva to help families save time researching the countless options and offerings available, by tapping into her and her amazing team’s many years of experience.
The Solva team is now led by Executive Director, Caroline Inman who has extensive background in eldercare including having owned and operated highly reputable home care agencies here in Ottawa. She has constant communication with the various retirement homes and has participated in more than 300 virtual tours since March 2020.
Between Caroline, Juanita and Rachel, our Program and Partnership Director, you’re in tremendous, knowledgeable hands. Our team can help you sort through the options, offerings and organizations that support local seniors, and help you make the best plan for you or your loved one.
Speaking to the Solva team is always free without obligation!
WHY SOLVA
Solva is a highly educational program. Our goal is to help you save time and make informed decisions. Solva is the only free program where our advisors are NOT paid commission thus have no remunerative gain when recommending options.
OUR STORY
Christine started Solva in 2013 to allow seniors and families to tap into her 25+ years of seniors housing experience without having to pay consulting fees to get the advice they need to make informed decisions.
OUR APPROACH
Our gentle holistic approach and mandate is to take the time to understand the whole situation. To assess your individual needs with today and tomorrow in mind. We then match and provide referrals based on needs, preferences, budget, and individual goals for aging.
Long Term Care Strategies
For many of us we do not plan for the need for assisted living or long term care for an aging loved one. When it comes specifically to Long Term Care homes you must qualify and apply through the Champlain Home Community Care Support Services (HCCSS) formerly LHIN. However, the waiting lists can be lengthy. What do you do while you wait? Solva can help you create a plan for either aging in place or selecting a retirement community that offers assisted living or memory care while you wait for a Long Term Care placement.
Not sure and just want to chat about the options and strategies…. give us a call! Its always FREE to talk to us and we always love sharing our insights and there is NEVER an obligation of surprise fee!
613-421-6073
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Keeping Busy and Finding Our Sense of Purpose
ONE of the biggest things to consider, plan for and appreciate as we retire is the need for a sense of purpose. It may be easy to think of or hope for no ‘to-do’ list but the realities of actually having nothing to do can be real. Therefore, even the smallest of...
Understanding Care Levels in a Retirement Community
Understanding Care Levels in a Retirement Community
By Caroline Inman
PEOPLE move to retirement residences for many different reasons, and whether you’re considering supported living now or looking ahead, knowing what homes can provide for you today, as well as in the future is very important.
Although there are an abundance of options to choose from, not all residences are the same, meaning not all are set up to include the same care and services. For the most part, a licensed* retirement home will include what we call ‘umbrella supports’ in your base monthly price. This is usually three full meals a day along with all snacks and beverages. Also, weekly housekeeping and weekly laundry of linens and towels (some homes will also include personal laundry, or you can do it yourself or pay a fee for staff service).
Utilities are also included, as is 24/7 access to nursing via a pendant or alert system. Finally, social programming, activities and events are usually part of the base package. For right now, this may be all you need and 99% of retirement homes provide this. The 1% that don’t are those higher care buildings that have no fully independent package to offer and instead focus on residents who need care assistance from the get-go.
Homes that offer a fully independent option will also offer some ‘supported care’. This can be minimal assistance like medication management/administration and assistance with bathing. However, that may be the scope of their care service provision. It’s very important when you’re speaking with retirement homes to ask what the highest level of care support is that they can provide. This can then guide you in decision making. Also to understand what they provide with their umbrella supports as each property can change up their offering/pricing or have incentives on.
As well, although you may be fit and mobile right now, no one knows what tomorrow may bring. How important is it to you to know that if you fell and needed assistance to transfer or mobilize, that the home could help you with that? Equally, someone with a degenerative illness like Parkinson’s or cognitive decline or MS may wish to know that the homes they’re looking at can provide a memory care environment or high care assistance should it be needed.
What care can be provided?
Pretty much everything from med management to PEG tube feeding and everything in between. But, the higher the care needs, the fewer homes there are that are licensed to provide those services. For the most part, all licensed buildings can provide umbrella supports, med management and some additional help with getting dressed and bathing. Homes also rely on and welcome help from the workers with Home and Community Care Support Services (formerly the LHIN). These caregivers are often the ones to provide you or your loved one with morning and evening assistance and bathing support.
Many residences can also provide further assistance with transfers, help with moving around (whether supervised walking or portering in a wheelchair); help with going to the bathroom. If only one person is needed to help you with any of these ‘Activities of Daily Living’ then the majority of retirement homes can support you.
When and if you may need two care providers to assist you is when there are fewer options available, and fewer still if you also need a mechanical lift to help with transfers. And, those that can help with trach tubes, stomach or nasal tubes for feeding are fewer still!
Let’s break down the care ‘levels’
Whether it’s shared as a Level One, Two, Three or by names such as Enhanced Care, Gold Package or others there are basically four levels. Again, not all homes can provide these:
Independent – all of the umbrella services listed earlier (meals, housekeeping, laundry, 24/7 nurse access)
Independent Supported – as above but with medication management, dressing/grooming, and bathing. Also can include personal laundry services and a daily tidy and garbage removal.
Assisted Living – higher care supports to include transfer and ambulation, toileting assistance, cueing and redirection, encouragement at meals or activities.
Assisted Living High Care – two person assists for transfers, full incontinence care, feeding support, mechanical lifts.
For those homes that have an actual Memory Care offering, some will be able to support to a one-person assist and some will be able to support to a two-person assist. This is as well as the therapeutic programming they offer aimed specifically at those with brain change.
At Solva we can very quickly narrow down options that meet your needs. We have expert knowledge of residences, their levels of care, their inclusions, pricing and availability. We are also here to talk to you about future planning and things you might not have considered.
For more information on anything written here, or questions on care in a retirement home, please connect with us for free at Solva;
www.solvaseniorliving.ca info@solvaseniorliving.ca 613-421-6073 or for Toronto 647-847-4719
*a retirement home that is licensed with the ON retirement homes regulator, the RHRA has to follow the Retirement Homes Act (2010) law. In order to be licensed, the property has to be occupied primarily by persons who are aged 65 and older, and have a minimum of six residents that are not related to the owner. Also, the residence needs to provide a minimum of two services from a predetermined list which includes meals, medication management, ambulation support, continence care, dementia care, bathing and others.
There are properties that advertise ‘retirement living’ but are not licensed. They are akin to apartment/community living and can offer no care services, aside from maybe meal(s). They do not have a nurse/nursing team on site 24/7 but you are always welcome to bring in your own care provider either through Home and Community Care or by privately paying for services.
Your Home at Home – Living within a Retirement Residence
By Caroline Inman
I BELIEVE one of the biggest things to appreciate and understand about moving into a retirement residence is…