Blog - Change LTC Now

March 30, 2026

Designing for Living, Not Managing

A green house dining room (copied with permission)

As the experiences of Ontario’s long term care homes where an innovative model of care has been implemented can attest, designing for living is a significant factor to consider when changing long-term care homes from ‘institutions to homes’.

Environment has shown time and time again with qualitative studies that it is so important to the quality of life of seniors living in long-term care homes. Among the environmental aspects to be considered are ‘real’ kitchens, small households, and access to the outdoors.

Many long-term care homes in Ontario are leading the way – e.g. Glebe Centre, Temiskaming Lodge, Malton Village, and the list goes on.

Please advocate for the implementation of innovative models of care, of which ‘designing for the living’, plays an important role.

March 26, 2026

Recording: Inside Long-Term Care: The Frontline Perspective

Webinar Recording Now Available.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our March 18th webinar, “Inside Long-Term Care: A Frontline Perspective”. If you weren’t able to attend live—or would like to revisit the discussion—you can watch the full recording below.

Presenters: Melissa Rochon, Maribeth Batuigas, Meghan Barnett

Listen to the recording here:

March 18, 2026

Another ‘Village’ Initiative

The Village Langley, B.C.

‘Agrace’s Dementia Village will be the first of its kind in the United States. It is being modelled after the internationally recognized Hogeweyk Dementia Village in the Netherlands’. It is being built in Madison, Wisconsin.

The first Village of this model in Canada was established in Langley, B.C. a few years ago. Subsequently, also in B.C., Providence Living established its first Village and is now in the process of implementing the Village model for all its long-term care home beds. Where there’s a will, there’s a way- in both the for profit and not-for-profit long-term care home sectors.

Please encourage your MPP to advocate for a provincial strategic plan in Ontario to bring innovative models of care to its long-term care homes. This change can’t come soon enough.

Providence Living in B.C. and the Right Model

Providence Living is fulfilling its plan to embrace the implementation of the innovative long-term care village model into its long-term care facilities.

Providence Living at the Views in Comox, B.C. opened its doors in 2024 to the first of its non-profit long-term care homes to benefit from the innovative village model.

Now their second village home is in the making: Providence Living at The Rivers set to open in early 2028. “This project represents a complete reimagining of what long-term care can and should be,” said Mark Blandford, president and CEO, Providence Living. “We’re creating a community where northern B.C. seniors can live with dignity, joy and purpose through our innovative long-term care village and Home for Us care model.”

Two more homes are planned for the future, one in Quesnel expected to start later this year, and the other in Smithers, expected to start in 2028.

March 2, 2026March 1, 2026

Webinar: Inside LTC: The Frontline Perspective

March 18, 2026, 12:00 to 1:00 EDT
Register HERE

February 23, 2026February 28, 2026

Testing the ‘Village’ model: the right way to go!

Residents and day-program participants at Langley Village (Dillon Hodgin/CBC)

It is worth taking note of a CBC News article by reporters Shaurya Kshatri and Yasmine Ghania, December 26^th, 2025: “Inside a B.C. ‘dementia village’ that researchers hope could reshape long-term care”.

Langley Village opened in 2019 and about 75 residents live full time at The Village Langley in its six cottage-style homes.

“The Village is now part of a new research project led by Simon Fraser University (SFU) in B.C. and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., which aims to understand what this kind of setting actually does for people with dementia and find ways to replicate some of its elements across the country.”

“The research team’s goal is to provide evidence that can inform future policy to promote and implement innovative approaches in long-term care that will create a normalized and naturally rich, supportive care community,” says SFU Professor Chaudhury.

We look forward to learning from the findings of their research.

Click here to read the full article –

February 16, 2026February 15, 2026

“Provincial standards outdated, more small-scale care homes needed.”

Building plans for Toronto’s Rekai Centre’s Cherry Street location

A downtown Toronto long-term care home is rebuilding with a new design that considers lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, going beyond the province’s standards but some say those standards are out of date.

“Many of the planned updates at the 13-storey facility on Cherry Street were
brainstormed during the pandemic as shortfalls were brought to light,” said CEO, Sue Graham-Nutter. “The changes made by the Rekai Centre are a good start,” according to Dr. Samir Sinha, a geriatrician, clinician scientist and the Director of Health Policy Research at the National Institute on Aging (NIA).

“If you think about palliative care hospices, if you think about group homes for younger people don’t have them living in large institutional settings,” Sinha said. “So why is it that in North America we only do this with frail, older people?” (Dr. Sinha, There’s No Place Like Home Report/National Institute on Ageing)

Sinha said long-term care should be moving towards a “small care homes” model of 10 to 12 people, each with their own private bedroom and bathroom. Larger buildings can be broken up into multiple 12-person households and still follow the model, he said.

To learn more about the building plans for the new Rekai Centre, click here.

February 8, 2026February 7, 2026

Recording: Building a small home at Meadowview Villa

Webinar Recording Now Available.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our January 21st webinar, “Building a small home at Meadowview Villa”. If you weren’t able to attend live—or would like to revisit the discussion—you can watch the full recording below.

Presenter: Carolyn Bilson, Architect, MMMC Architects

Listen to the recording here:

February 1, 2026

A Welcome Change!

On December 10^th, 2025, Alison Jones, Canadian Press, noted in her article that Ontario was expanding new rules for cultural long-term care placements.

“The government found that their 2022 law known as Bill 7, which was criticized for allowing people to be placed in a long-term care home not of their choosing, also led to declining and mismatched admissions to the province’s cultural homes.

Long-Term Care Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta implemented a pilot project in April in 29 homes that serve a particular religious, ethnic or linguistic community and she says that has been successful.”

January 26, 2026

Recording: Citizenship and Wellbeing in Long-Term Care

Webinar Recording Now Available.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Dec 10 webinar, “Citizenship and Wellbeing in Long-Term Care”. If you weren’t able to attend live—or would like to revisit the discussion—you can watch the full recording below.

Presenters: Reanne Evans, Neighbourhood Manager and Person-Directed Lead, Tideview Terrace, Digby, NS
Debra Boudrea, CEO, Tideview Terrace
Ariel Rice, Neighbourhood Manager and Enrichment Lead, Tideview Terrace

Listen to recording here