Did you know? – Page 2 – Bay Haven Care Community

The Importance of Digitizing Your Business

Posted on January 10, 2020January 14, 2020 by Reagan Morgan

*Modernizing Bay Haven’s Digital Presences*

We are officially in the year 2020, which is a crucial year for many businesses to finally focus on digitizing their business to become up-to-date with the modern world. All types of businesses are digitizing faster than we can comprehend, and it is important for you to not fall behind. Any small town or local business needs to begin planning an online presences of their company, whether focusing on a new modernized website, or adjusting their social media pages to stand out from their competitors, these are the tools that will make your business grow and become better than ever.

1) Phones > Newspapers: To begin, we have to understand the evolution process of human beings and how we receive our information. Simply put, humans do not read newspapers anymore. At one point in history, the newspaper was the only source of news that a person could get. But now, everyone uses their phone or computer to look up whatever they want. If you truly understood how many people use the internet to look things up, wouldn’t you want your website to look better than your competitors? As Bay Haven’s Marketing Specialist, I am planning on updating the website to modernize it for 2020. This is a project that I am excited to work on for the new year.

2) Pictures Speak A Thousand Words: It is simply true; pictures speak a thousand words. We are living in a fast-pace culture where images and pictures stand out a lot more than words. In our new fast-pace culture, people do not have time to read anymore. This is why it is important to post beautiful pictures on your website or social media pages. For Bay Haven, pictures are a very important way for us to communicate with resident’s family members that live far away. This is the most ideal way for family members to see their parents or grandparents living life at Bay Haven. This is why we try to post as many pictures and videos as we can on our Facebook page.

3) Social Media Interaction: For 2020, I plan on creating new social media pages for Bay Haven Care Community. I would like to create a Bay Haven Twitter, Instagram, and a TikTok account. I believe it is important for Bay Haven to communicate with all major social media platforms, because it is a way to express Bay Haven’s culture to families. Even though Facebook is the most used social media page for Bay Haven, I would like to expand Bay Haven’s horizons by interacting with members through other popular social media pages. This is important to do for any kind of business.

4) Website Representation: To make your business stand out from your competitors, it is important to show a good representation of your company through your website. Having a clean, fresh, and new look of your company through your website can really create an amazing image for your company. Here at Bay Haven, we want people to know that we are strive for the best possible care for our residents, and that our core values of respect, quality, staff, and community is positively represented over our website. The first thing that people do when they look up a retirement or nursing home for their loved ones, they search the company through Google. Having a great representation through our website is an amazing way to promote the excellence that comes from Bay Haven.

As a Marketing Specialist, I can confidentially say that these are four important first steps to bring your company into the online world. I am excited to work on Bay Haven’s marketing plan for 2020, so please continue to follow us as you venture on a journey with us to see new modern changes coming to Bay Haven’s online presences.

Marco Sanfilippo
Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant

Reflecting on Bay Haven’s 2019

Posted on December 27, 2019January 7, 2020 by Reagan Morgan

2019 was an incredible year for Bay Haven. Since this is the last blog of this year, I would like to take a moment to reflect on some of the activities and events that we had throughout the year. During the year, Bay Haven staff and recreation team did an absolutely great job providing so much for the residents that live at Bay Haven. Our mission is to make Bay Haven the best Retirement Home/Nursing Home in Collingwood, and in order to do that, we need to provide the best programs for them.

We had so many activities and events planned out for the residents for both Retirement Home and Nursing Home side. Throughout the year, we had programs like TGIF entertainment every Friday, we played Bingo, we celebrated birthday parties, we watched movies, we had outdoor picnics, we listened to a lot of live music form plenty of guest performers, we had outings to Walmart/Sunset Point/Journey’s Blend, we baked delicious pastries, we celebrated holidays together, and so much more.

Not only did we have programs like these on a weekly basis, we also had a huge cultural experience day. This year we had a Caribbean Cultural Experience Day. Throughout the entire day, staff and residents dressed up and ate Caribbean food. It was a very entertaining time! Not only that, but Bay Haven celebrated its 50th anniversary back in January 2019. Staff and residents had a huge celebration accommodating Bay Haven’s success throughout those 50 years. Additionally, to that, Bay Haven has been posting blogs about the company on a weekly basis. This is a new idea that began in 2019, and we are happy to continue writing more blogs for 2020. As you can see, 2019 was a jam-packed year, and we are looking forward to having an even more packed year for 2020.

On behalf of Bay Haven, we would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year.

Thank you for reading,

Marco Sanfilippo
Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant

The Living Wish Foundation: A Christmas Gift They Will Never Forget

Posted on December 20, 2019January 7, 2020 by Reagan Morgan

The Living Wish Foundation Logo

What exactly is The Living Wish Foundation? The Living Wish Foundation is an organization that provides medically supervised and supported end of life wishes to patients who are facing terminal diagnosis. By doing this, The Living Wish Foundation hopes to assist people who are terminally ill to make their last wish or dreams come true. Providing the patient this wish ultimately enhances their quality of life until they pass on.

Since we are in the Christmas season, it is important to understand how much of an impact that a wish that comes true can have on a terminally ill patient. End of life wishes are not necessarily overly complicated. Sometimes a wish could be a request to visit their home for the last time, go to a Toronto Maple Leafs game, or to celebrate and spend one last Christmas or birthday a few weeks earlier. The people who work at Living Wish Foundation have found that patients last request have often been something simple and easy to achieve. This Christmas, try to reach out to The Living Wish Foundation to donate your time to help someone achieve their last dream. Granting a last wish to a terminally ill patient can be the most powerful feeling to any care team. These wishes provide joy to the patient and one last memorable experience for the patient’s family and friends to sustain them in their grief. If you want to give the ultimate Christmas gift this holiday season, I suggest you help make a wish come true for a terminal ill patient. This will be a Christmas gift that they will never forget. Go out there, help those in need, and make an impact. Let’s give everyone the Christmas they deserve.

Marco Sanfilippo
Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant

Who Is Teepa Snow? Bay Haven Staff Went To Her Conference

Posted on November 8, 2019November 15, 2019 by Reagan Morgan

Before you begin to read this article, you may be asking yourself, who is Teepa Snow? Teepa Snow is a leading trainer and consultant providing support and care that places the person living with dementia in a pivotal role when determining what is needed. Her goal is to help communities, agencies, organizations, professionals, and families to develop the awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to better support and care for someone living with dementia. Teepa Snow is the owner and CEO of Positive Approach to Care. Her organization provides training, services and products to help those who have dementia. Teepa Snow has successfully integrated her education, extremely varied work experiences, recent medical and international research, and her first-hand care experiences to be a major part of her companies’ program. All these tools are used to help people living with neurocognitive degeneration.

It is Teepa Snow’s mission to change the culture of dementia support and care throughout the world. Positive Approach to Care focuses on the best ways to approach and develop a relationship with a patient who has dementia. Relationships that are based on authenticity, empowerment, compassion, and curiosity. Teepa Snow believes that this mind-frame is important to everyone, because understanding a person who has dementia is the best way to get to truly know the person suffering with this disease. Teepa Snow had a conference held at Hawk Ridge Golf & Country Club near Orillia, Ontairo, and luckily, some staff at Bay Haven Care Community got to go and watch her lecture live. I happened to be one of those lucky employees, and believe me, it was such a fantastic experience. Teepa Snow went over so many different situations about people who have dementia. Her energetic personality and approach to people living with dementia was incredible to learn and see. Teepa Snow’s care strategies and techniques look at what is known about the brain function and all of the changes that happen with various conditions and then integrate all of that information with therapeutic approaches. She went over a bunch of topics related to the neurological functions of the brain and she told us how to put our caring and support to those with dementia into practice in a positive, loving, and rewarding way.

The conference went from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and breakfast and lunch were both provided! Not only that, every table represented the retirement/nursing home you worked at, so it was nice to have a Bay Haven Care Community table. Teepa Snow got everyone in attendance involved by making everyone participate in her techniques and approach to proper caring. It was very fun to be able to practice these techniques with your co-workers and be able to learn new things that we could all bring to our work. Teepa Snow is a phenomenal lecturer and I highly recommend everyone to go to one of her conferences whenever she is in Canada. Bellow are a couple links to her videos from YouTube.

Teepa Snow Discusses The Ten Early Signs of Dementia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqmqC-702Yg

Calming & Comforting a Person Living with Dementia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGqYaRhjxrM

Marco Sanfilippo – Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant

Books on Wheels

Posted on October 25, 2019October 25, 2019 by Reagan Morgan

Bay Haven Care Community and the Collingwood Public Library have been working together to provide a program for the residents called Books on Wheels. The Books on Wheels program allows books from the Collingwood Public Library to go directly to the residents that have signed up for the program. Residents that are interested in reading a variety of genres of books will be granted several different books per month. For those residents that are visually impaired, the Collingwood Public Library also offers audible books. The Books on Wheels program is a great way to give the residents at Bay Haven Care Community easily accessible books for their enjoyment. Reading books are very important as they keep your mind strong and active. This is a program that Bay Haven is proud to offer for their residents.

Aside from certain activities that the Recreation department puts together for the residents to stimulate the brain, Books on Wheels is another option for residents to keep their mind healthy, strong, and focused.

We here at Bay Haven are happy to continue this tradition so that our residents do not have to leave their home to go to the library, but rather have those books come to them.

Marco Sanfilippo – Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant.

What Is Family Council?

Posted on October 4, 2019October 4, 2019 by Reagan Morgan

Family Councils of Ontario Logo

Many Long-Term Care Homes across Ontario have established a dedicated family council within their homes. In these Family Councils, members have successfully set aside goals and aspirations to help improve the quality of life for their loved ones within the Long-Term Care Home. A Family Council is an organized, self-led, and self-determining group of people composed of family and friends of the residents living in the Long-Term Care Homes. The main purpose of a Family Council is to improve the quality of life for Long-Term Care residents and to give families and friends a forum for sharing their experiences, leanings, and other valuable information within the home. A Family Council works together with residents’ family members, friends, and the Long-Term Care Home to identify and resolve any issues that affect the resident’s quality of life.

Here are some examples of what Family Council have accomplished with other Ontario Long-Term Care Homes in the past:

Members of one Family Council advocated for new doors in the Alzheimer unit to improve resident safety.
Air-conditioning was installed in one Home at a Family Council’s recommendation.
Family Council worked with a local municipality to include curb ramps around the building of their Long-Term Care Home so residents using wheelchairs could leave the property.

Some of the benefits of having a Family Council in your Long-Term Care Home is that it allows families to give each other ongoing mutual support and encouragement by sharing thoughts and feelings with others who also have relatives in a Long-Term Care Home. Not only that, a Family Council provides an opportunity to become knowledgeable about the Long-Term Care Home’s operations, policies, and rules. This can be especially helpful for families of new residents in the home.

Starting in June 2019, Bay Haven Care Community began a Family Council. So far, our Family Council is small, but we would like to increase the number of participants as much as possible! Each Family Council at a Long-Term Care Home is unique to that individual Home; however, they all share the same goals and aspirations, and that is to provide additional care for your loved ones.

To promote and raise awareness for Bay Haven’s Family Council, we will be hosting a tea social on Wednesday, October 16^th, 2019 at 6:00 PM at the Recreation Room in the Long-Term Care side of Bay Haven. At this social, there will be a PowerPoint presentation explaining more about Family Council and what it means to us. We will also be giving a tutorial on how to navigate the Bay Haven Facebook Page. This social will be a great way to introduce potential new members our Family Council at Bay Haven. At this social, you will be learning more about our goal to create a well-established Family Council at Bay Haven, our mission, and the date and time for the next upcoming meeting. We highly recommend and encourage all current resident family members to attend our event.

If you have any relatives in Bay Haven’s Long-Term Care Home and would like to volunteer your time to be part of our Family Council, please contact Bay Haven Care Community at (705)-445-6501 and ask for either April Lawson (Recreation Manager) or Marco Sanfilippo (Marketing Specialist) for more information. Do not forget to attend our tea social to meet us and learn more about Family Council at Bay Haven.

NOTE: Since Bay Haven is under an outbreak, we may have to postpone our social to another date. We will update everyone once the outbreak is gone.

Thank you,

Marco Sanfilippo – Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant.

World Alzheimer’s Day

Posted on September 17, 2019September 17, 2019 by Reagan Morgan

Saturday, September 21^st is World Alzheimer’s Day. World Alzheimer’s Day is an annual event where people around the world come together to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, affects more than 400,000 Canadians aged 65 years and older. Since Canada’s population is now living longer than ever before, this number is expected to grow even more. At Bay Haven Care Community, residents and staff will be wearing blue on Friday, September 20^th, 2019 in support of people living with dementia, their caregivers, and families. We will be taking photos and sharing all our blue on social media using the hashtag #GoBlueforAlz!

Not only will Bay Haven Care Community be celebrating World Alzheimer’s Day, but several landmarks across Ontario will be lit up in blue as well, including the CN Tower in Toronto. Every 65 seconds, someone develops dementia somewhere around the world, and due to our aging population, the number of people living with dementia in Canada will only continue to rise. So here are the top 4 ways you can make a difference for dementia this year.

Learn more about Alzheimer’s Disease.

It is always important to learn more about Alzheimer’s Disease. Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia is the best way to help those that are impacted. Do you know all the risks, prevention’s, and how to bet support those with the disease? If not, this is the day to learn about those diseases.

Spread the world.

Talk to family and friends about dementia and build awareness in your community. There are so many different ways for you to make a positive change and impact to the lives of Ontarians who have been impacted by dementia. The more people know, the more we can take action! Spread the word.

Host or Attend a Coffee Break.

Coffee Break is a major nationwide annual fundraiser where friends, co-workers and customers gather in communities across Canada to raise funds for their local Alzheimer Society. This is a great way to become part of the Alzheimer Society and a way to connect to people who have the same interest and goals as you.

Make a donation.

Your donation will support so many vital programs for men and women with dementia. Any donation or contribution that you make will help those with Alzheimer’s Disease, caregivers, and their families. This is the best way to help on World Alzheimer’s Day.

In support of World Alzheimer’s Day, let’s all do our part to raise awareness of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. Together we can make a real difference in the lives of Canadian’s living with dementia. Do not forget to wear blue and donate!

Marco Sanfilippo – Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant.

Bay Haven’s Third Annual Summer Hoedown

Posted on August 30, 2019August 30, 2019 by Reagan Morgan

*Residents during the 2018 Summer Hoedown.*

Bay Haven Care Community’s third annual end of summer party hoedown will be taking place on Wednesday, September 4^th for the residents on the retirement side. This is a party that the Bay Haven recreation and dietary team like to provide for the residents before the summer is over. The purpose of this party is to kick-off the summer in style! Residents are encouraged to wear jeans with a plaid shirt, and to wear a cowboy or cowgirl hat and boots!

Residents are invited to celebrate the last days of summer with entertainment by North of 50 and a themed supper to be served in the Bay Haven courtyard. Appetizers and drinks will be served at 4:45 PM with dinner to follow. The dinner menu will have an option of either BBQ Beef Tenderloin or BBQ Chicken Thighs, then on the side there will be baked potatoes with sour cream, zucchini & tomato bake with Parmesan & basil, and corn on the cob. Then ending with a delicious dessert of peach pie & French vanilla ice cream with tea & coffee.

The Bay Haven recreation team decorates each table with a beautiful centre piece, autumn leaves, and so much more. If you are interested in seeing photos of our third annual summer hoedown, like Bay Haven’s Facebook page and you will be able to see all the photos taken during the festivities. We will make sure to post the pictures as soon as possible.

We are incredibly excited to be able to host this party for our residents!

Marco Sanfilippo – Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant

Bay Haven’s Centenarian’s

Posted on August 23, 2019August 27, 2019 by Reagan Morgan

Luena is our oldest resident at Bay Haven. She is 106.

What does the term centenarian mean? A centenarian is someone who is 100 years of age or older. Bay Haven Care Community is proud to say that we have THREE centenarian residents, Luena – 106, Isobel – 104, and Annie – 102. All three centenarians are in great health and continue to be active in our recreation programs. In fact, Luena plays the piano for all her fellow residents and staff four days a week. When asking Luena what her secret to longevity is, she said to always keep active physically and mentally. Annie use to be a nurse when Bay Haven began in 1969. Now, her daughter Roseanne is a nurse and her granddaughter Amanda works in house keeping.

Bay Haven Care Community also have many residents that are in their late 90s. Muriel is 99 years old and will be turning 100 in 2020. Other residents’ range between 95 – 99. It is incredible to be surrounded by so many active elders in the Bay Haven community, whenever I come into work, it encourages me to keep active so that I may also live a long, healthy life.

The oldest person to ever live was a woman named Jeanne Calment from France. Jeanne was born on February 21^st, 1875 and she passed away on August 4^th, 1997. She was 122 years and 164 days old. Currently, the oldest living person is Kane Tanaka from Japan. Kane was born on January 2^nd, 1903 and she is currently 116 years old. Kane is still in good health and occupies her time by playing the board game Othello and taking short walks in the facility’s hallways. Her hobbies include calligraphy and calculations. She credits her family, sleep, and God as her secrets to her longevity. Kane also said that she has a strong appetite and likes sweets; she drinks three cans a day of canned coffee, sodas, and various nutritional drinks.

Studies have shown that longevity has been increasing over centuries. As life expectancy is increasing across the world, the number of centenarians is expected to increase quickly in the future. According to a study done in the United Kingdom, one-third of babies born in 2013 in the UK are expected to live to 100. In the end, remember to eat well, keep active, get proper sleep, and live an amazing life.

Marco Sanfilippo – Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream

Posted on August 2, 2019August 2, 2019 by Reagan Morgan

*Bay Haven Care Community Residents Enjoying Their Ice Cream.*

Every year, Bay Haven Care Community collaborates with the Collingwood Ice Cream Company to provide FREE ice cream to all the residents right at their home. The recreation team and volunteers work together to bring all residents outside to enjoy their free ice cream right in front of the Collingwood Ice Cream Company truck so that each resident can individually choose which flavoured ice cream they would like. Some of the flavoured options included were chocolate, vanilla, blueberry cheesecake, and cookie dough. After the resident chooses their ice cream flavour, they would then decide weather they wanted their ice cream served in a cone or in a bowl. The recreation team also provided some additional tables, chairs, and umbrellas for shade and protection against the sun. This collaboration between Bay Haven and the Collingwood Ice Cream Company is a great way to have two local companies come together to provide residents with local, delicious, Collingwood ice cream.

Additionally, every other Wednesday throughout the month of August, the Bay Haven Care Community recreation team provides residents with their very own personalized ice cream trolley! Recreation assistants Marco and Alivya will dress up wearing ice cream uniforms and then proceed to go to each individual resident with a trolley filled with ice cream and delicious toppings such as chocolate, caramel, strawberry, and sprinkles! To add effect, the recreation team attaches two ice cream trolley signs on both sides of the trolley, as well as having ice cream trolley music playing in loop from our iPad. The residents get really excited when they hear the ice cream music, just like anyone else would! The ice cream trolley begins its route in the Long-Term Care side of Bay Haven and then continues to proceed through the Retirement Home side. The residents absolutely love receiving ice cream directly at their front door of their rooms! Here at Bay Haven Care Community, we acknowledge that summertime is ice cream time, and the residents love it!

Marco Sanfilippo — Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant.