You can listen to Episode S3E8 right here!
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Hello, and welcome to the Third Age Design podcast sharing essential information on senior environments. I’m Lori Pinkerton-Rolet and today we’re starting a new series entitled, ‘The World Series of Design.’ And we’re going to start with a luxurious and very forward-looking retirement project in an extremely beautiful country. More on that in a moment. Pablo Picasso was quoted as saying, “The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away.” What’s your purpose? Is it meaningful to you and to other people. Now, if your gifts relate in any way to senior living and quality of life, then you have come to the right place. This podcast and the Third Age. Design website, provide free international insights into the sector, and seek to expand your horizons as to what is possible, and the difference that great design makes. If you go to the website and hit ‘join us’ at the top, you’ll also automatically receive additional information which we call A TAD Extra, which is exclusive information for our community members. Or why not write a blog, or add an event to the international calendar? We now have listeners in 36 countries so we must be doing something right and best of all, it’s entirely free. The Third Age Design podcast is supported by Innova Care Concepts whose mission is to enhance quality of life through innovation. From hydrotherapy pools to furniture, you’ll find quality, aesthetics and functionality in all unique Innova products. Innova Care Concepts, the leading edge of health care. Okay, let’s get started… Can you name that tune? Well, it’s the national anthem of South Africa. And as I mentioned, this month, we begin our series called the ‘World Series of Design’, and we’re starting with the review of a very desirable retirement project in South Africa. There will definitely be some takeaways for you here. South Africa is the southernmost country on the African continent, and is known for, among other things, its great natural beauty, cultural diversity and varied topography. But did you know that it also has the longest continuous wine route on earth? It’s the largest meat producer in Africa, and is listed on Top Retirements.com As one of the best places on earth to retire. Today, my guest is Helen Seaman, a director at Constantia Life Developers, who specialise in later living property including the project which is the focus of today’s podcast, Great Oaks Retirement Village. Helen is a seasoned property developer with more than 35 years experience in the construction and development industry, and Great Oaks Retirement Village is the culmination of her lifelong passion for caring for the elderly, and her vision of developing a retirement village that would benefit the surrounding community and create a sustainable source of income for the landowners which are the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary. Now, with her meticulous attention to detail and heightened awareness of the changing needs of the elderly, Great Oaks village will undoubtedly become the blueprint for retirement villages in South Africa, and elsewhere, which is why we’re covering it on the podcast. Helen is community-oriented, passionate about the environment and a ‘mom’ to four dogs. Alternative health care such as energy and homoeopathic healing is a special area of interest as well. Helen, welcome to the Third Age Design podcast.
Helen Seaman
Thank you, Lori.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
We’re so glad to have you. I really am terribly intrigued by what you’ve put together here near Cape Town. It’s really unlike anything that I’m aware of anywhere in the world. And I’d like to begin by asking you about the vision of the religious order the Schonstatt Sisters of Mary and how that ties in with your own philosophy of ageing in place.
Helen Seaman
Well, I guess I’ve been involved with the Schoenstatt sisters for a number of years. And when they decided that it was time to sell off a portion of the land which traditionally had been used for a training facility, especially for a non-profit organisations that facilitated workshops for people that were either alcohol addiction, abuse, family abuse, and many such non-profit organisations. When they made that decision, it was hard for them. But necessary, unfortunately, because when they originally bought the property, it was in the middle of nowhere. And it now ended up being in a very sought after area with rates and taxes, increasing etcetera. So affordability became quite an issue.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Right? So running costs for them? Yes, absolutely,
Helen Seaman
Absolutely. But at the same time, there, they were forced to sell a portion of the land, they felt it would be of benefit to the community or whatever was to be constructed on the site was to be of benefit to the community. So that was foremost in their mind and looking at what was available in the area in terms of a retirement village, we felt that that would benefit the community the most. And of course, it would give them the opportunity to be able to continue to serve as the people within the retirement village. So offering, particularly those that maybe are lonely or have some sort of religious requirement in terms of their involvement, they could be of great support to many of the residents in the development.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Right. And so it becomes part of their mission is just continued with the extra people come back the area. [Exactly, yes, exactly.] The bit that’s really, really different in my mind about what it is that you’re building is the idea of how you manage ageing in place, because we’ve heard this phrase before, but it doesn’t necessarily work in the way that you have envisioned it. So as I understand it, the village is opening later this year, and you’ve got 53 cottages, 30 apartments, frail care, memory care. And then this central hub, which is your lifestyle centre. If somebody were say, living in one of the cottages, just using that as an example, how would ageing in place be worked within that cottage? What does that mean?
Helen Seaman
Well, first of all, it means that they are, we offer a service with frail care, you can have 24-hour frail care in your home, so as a service as a nursing care that is facilitated. But secondly, the design of the cottage is such that it can accommodate 24-hour care, end of life care, in fact, so the design principles are that we’ve applied or things like having a wheelchair access through the doorway. So there needs to be wide enough that all these showers are designed in such a way where nursing care is possible—wheelchairs can go into the showers that the bathrooms have wheelchair turning circle size. So many people said don’t waste your space in your bathroom, you don’t need a big bathroom. But if you’re in a wheelchair, that’s exactly what you need. In fact, it’s paramount because you want to be as independent as possible. But you need to get your wheelchair into the bathroom, for example. And those kinds of principles have been applied including adjusting your kitchen countertops, being able to reduce them in height. So if you go from an able- bodied person to being in a wheelchair, you can continue to cook for yourself and do those things, having modules of cupboards where you can remove your microwave module and drop it down into a lower space under the kitchen counter and so on. Those are the design principles that allow for an age in place philosophy in a retirement village.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
So did you take each one of these designs, say the cottages the apartments, etc? and work through what might the needs to be at each stage if one’s health were declining?
Helen Seaman
Absolutely. It took us a lot of time a lot of energy. Every single thing was looked at from thresholds to exiting doorways and in fact way there was just not the space to allow for a 450 centimeter space alongside the front door or any door for that matter so that you can place your wheelchair next to the door and open the door without knocking your knees for example, if that wasn’t possible, then you need to have an electrical connection to the door so that you can remotely press a button and the door will open before you actually get close enough to it. Those are the kinds of detail we are actually went in in terms of the designing each and every cottage and each and every apartment.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
And are there any specific guidelines that you’ve used in respect to lighting levels for example, because obviously, with the onset of dementia, somebody’s level of light may need to be increased etcetera I mean, did you go into that level of detail as well?
Helen Seaman
We did we have from the beginning engaged a neuro architect who’s doing her PhD in dementia care and neuro design with dementia care specifically in mind. And we considered light we considered surfaces, reflective surfaces light coming in, there are a whole host of things that have been considered with regards to light. Now, for example, strip lighting in your cupboard so when you open your cupboard, the interior of the cupboard is lit up so you can easily see even the darker of garments in the cupboard for example.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Now as someone who’s not been to South Africa, my daughter has but I imagine it to be sunny basically all the time. Is glare control a specific issue in South Africa,
Helen Seaman
it’s not really I have to say our site, we’ve surrounded by nature, trees, mountains, it’s a very, very established green area. So for us, our concern was more about allowing natural light into the unit. Rather than worrying about glare. So you glare often from the outside is from white walls and construction and so on with the way we’ve designed the development a lot of it and most of it is with green trees, etc, etc. So rather we wanted to allow the light on the outside into the apartment. We’ve got double glazing that reduces quite a lot of glare as well if there is any on our particular site, and of course the surfaces once again. So we have natural as many natural surfaces as possible, like Timber Flooring, and so on, not sheen and glossy wall paints at all. So those have been considered Yes, in short, we are sunny, a sunny country.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Picking up on that it is obviously reported to be a country of outstanding natural beauty. What other steps have you taken in the overall design of the village master plan to take advantage of the natural surroundings?
Helen Seaman
Well, we’ve got quite a few green belts and we’ve got walking pathways throughout the village. Let’s call it that. So the area as I say is got large, large, established trees. We’ve designed around those trees to try and retain as many trees as possible, we will be planting quite as many as we did have to remove. So the greenery and the trees have been preserved as best as possible. We’ve orientated the units to maximise the sun and also for example, the views we’ve got 360-degree mountain views the apartments all have lovely mountain views. We’ve have a connection between ourselves in the shins that sisters to go through their property which also has quiet areas for meditation and prayer. So that there’s access to that and from the directly into the vineyards of the Constantia wine estate. So it’s all inter-connected and has easy access to what Constantia offers.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
It sounds it sounds very beautiful. On I want to ask you also about some of the specific spaces that you’re putting into the lifestyle centre. So one that stuck out to me was why ladies bar, don’t the men in South Africa drink too?
Helen Seaman
Well, of all the coffee we have on our website and in our brochures and so on. The one word that has received the most attention was the ladies bar. I guess I gave my age away because in my day we had the gentleman will that normal public bar and the ladies bar in the well behaved went to the ladies bar and the not so well behaved went to the public bar where women weren’t allowed. So ladies bar basically intimates that it’s a sophisticated pub and single ladies are welcome and we of course will have quite a few have quite a wealth quite a lot of single ladies that are welcome to come down to the boss. We thought it might be more encouraging to them in any event. But no, of course the main drink and sort of tongue-in-cheek. But this is me showing my age.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
So are they allowed in the ladies bar…men?
Helen Seaman
Of course. [Excellent.] They are encouraged. I’m sure the ladies would encourage the men to come into the bar and have a drink with them.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
…and behave well! Yes. You also have a boardroom with all of this sort of typical business meeting rooms support on offer, you know, coffees, flip charts, all the rest of it. Why are you offering this within a retirement village?
Helen Seaman
Certainly a retirement village is very different to what it used to be years and years ago, the residents still own companies, they still have their own portfolios, their investment portfolios to manage, they have meetings, and it’s always nice to have it in a place where they’ve been accustomed to having a boardroom having all the technology. And also, of course, having somebody serve them tea and so on the life continues, the fact that they’re in a retirement village doesn’t mean the businesses can come, you know, come to an end either. It can certainly and certainly in the in this in Constantia, you know, everyone moving into this, this development has owned their own businesses, and it will continue.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
This is very forward-thinking, I must say, I’ve not come across. I mean, there are meeting rooms, but they’re never really referred to as boardrooms. And they’re not serviced in the same way. So I find this very, very encouraging and forward-thinking. The other thing you do… a couple of podcasts ago, we focused on pets, both in care and retirement situations. What are you finding that you need to put in place to minimise any possible negatives of pets in areas of communal living?
Helen Seaman
I guess probably the rules and the policies that we put in place will mitigate any negatives, not that I can’t even begin to think what there might be other than, you know, cleaning up after dogs and so on. There are rules and regulations that need to be on a lead, you need to pick up after your dogs and so on. But we will have cleaners, gardeners, concierge that will do that if somebody happens to miss it. I just think the benefits of having pets in the retirement village far outweigh any possible negatives.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
That is certainly what the research that we were we’re looking at certainly showed that in terms of well being overall health outcomes, etc, etc. Now, back when you were setting this up, originally, you had sort of six different interior schemes on offer. And I understand that at the moment, the way the bookings are going people can personalise and use bits of one or bits of another design. But you started with like contemporary dark, contemporary Scandinavian, modern country, modern coastal, and organic minimalist. And I think you worked with Sterling University. Were they involved with the development of the initial schemes? And if so, how were the initial schemes decided upon?
Helen Seaman
They weren’t involved, but the on Euro architect obviously is very involved with the research and I guess the research of that’s been done both in sterling and Canada, Netherlands, Australia. So you know, she’s kept up to date with doing her PhD, of course, that’s, that’s what she does. And so it’s been influenced possibly by Sterling, but I think she’s taken information from across the board. That’s the benefit we’ve been able to make use of her knowledge, which she has achieved and gained through a number of different countries and universities whether that specifically was from Sterling, I couldn’t tell you
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
I know certainly the in the Netherlands they’re very supportive of multi-options, particularly in dementia settings. I’m just wondering in terms of your pre bookings, and I know people are personalising their finishes and things, but is there is there any one of the original six schemes which one is getting more interest than others from people that are looking to live at a Great Oaks?
Helen Seaman
Um, I think I think the more sort of organic minimalist is what everybody is going for. Only because it’s a nice neutral palette for r their furniture and yeah, that’s basically been the majority of the selections have ever have sort of mimicked what was originally our organic, minimalist.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
That’s very interesting. And how important do you feel or just as a gut level response that the organic aspect of that features into this?
Helen Seaman
Yeah, it does. The more natural feel, and the natural look, seems to be quite important, especially to this particular generation. It’s a personal preference of mine anyway, but it seems to be that what we found the stones, the natural, simple colours and lines have been what has been sort of the flavour at greater because I would say majority,
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
And it sounds as if from what you described, about the exterior and what’s happening elsewhere on the site plan, that it also rather ties in with the beautiful outlook, the large trees, the vineyard, etc. So you’ve got this sort of biophilic aspect to it, presumably?
Helen Seaman
Exactly, exactly. Um, if you go, and I’m sure you’ve seen on our website, even our patio area, all of that is quite organic, the water features, the fabrics, the colours, very neutral, very, very organic and suited to this area because of the nature, the surrounding nature of Constantia.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
I think Unusually for a facility of this type, a village of this type, I should say, private health care appears to be included within the fee structure on a basic level. So does this mean you’ve had to develop a completely separate medical facility within the lifestyle centre? And, and if so, how? How detailed did that need to be in terms of your planning?
Helen Seaman
In fact, was our initial and only focus in the beginning to determine what was best for retirement in South Africa, we went to many, many villages, to see both the pros and the cons of the various structures because they’re all so different. And one thing that struck us was that most people either offered one or the other. So you’re you had you had your healthcare centre, and you had your cottages and the two, you either weren’t living in one or the other, if you wanted care, you had to move into the into the frail care or memory care facilities, but you couldn’t stay in your cottages. And we just felt that there was something about that wasn’t quite right. And so all of them and us included, you get your primary care is included in your in your levy structure where you can have your basics done when dressing and temperatures and injections and medication and so on. But we wanted to ensure that you did not have to go to the frail care to obtain 24-hour care, you could stay in your home, most of us would rather stay in our home. But it’s also important to have a facility where particularly in memory care, you cannot stay in your cottage, eventually, you need to be in a facility that provides you with the supportive measures that you need. And that in itself is just so complex. So it’s beneficial for everybody to be able to have the availability of both. And you don’t always have a couple, when both people will be ill and need the same facilities at the same time. So if you have somebody who needs to be in frail care, memory care, but the spouse still wants to have her or his independence at home, you can have that. But it’s still pretty easy to pop up and go and visit your spouse in the first the lifestyle centre facility or the health facility and have that flexibility and not have to rely on people especially as you get older to take you to go and visit your spouse where the facilities off site. So you have the best of both worlds.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
And because you’ve done so much with the ageing in place aspect of it. Presumably it can take quite a while before one would need to go into one of these other facilities, the frail care, the memory care, I believe that that’s what the hope is, isn’t it?
Helen Seaman
Well, the hope is that you don’t even need to go there is that you can be in your home until the day you pass away. You must be able to have that if that’s what you want. It’s about choice. And so you may, for example, if you have a couple, and one of the spouses is a lot younger, that’s normally the case, the woman, the wife is a lot younger than her husband, and he needs frail care, but she still wants to live an independent life and doesn’t want a carer in the cottage 24/7, she wants a space in a privacy, then her husband is able to go to either the memory care or frail care, and she can pop up at any time 10 times a day, if she wants it supports him, or her and vice versa. They both have the support of life that they want without being restricted by the spouses disability or inability to take care of themselves.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
And also, presumably, this this social structure that one gets in a village. So your website showed because of the beautiful grounds and things sort of, you know, weekend roasts and things where there are children, and that where you’re not separating older people from the rest of the general community at large.
Helen Seaman
That, of course, is paramount. And we would really like to see that if no other day Sunday lunches are this big thing where even the grandkids are looking forward to going to see their grandparents, because there is the Sunday roast and this whole fun day for everybody. And not just then I mean, we will have an area where we will, and we haven’t shown it on our perspectives, but we will have a small playground area as well, for grandparents with the grandchildren, so that they can also have some fun time in some of the communal areas and so on. It’s really important, and we looking at other things like using our residents or having our residents mentor new business owners, entrepreneurs, we’re going to focus on the integration so that our residents, their experience and knowledge in business, that it’s not wasted that they can pass it on to young entrepreneurs.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
So there’s purpose…
Helen Seaman
Exactly, we have so much to learn. They have had 80 years experience, or 60 years business experience. You know, somebody could benefit from that experience.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
I love that concept. Finally, if you’re speaking for the future of retirement living, which I think you are, if you don’t mind me saying so, what would you say is the key and unique takeaway of the model that you have created with Great Oaks
Helen Seaman
It is to ensure that you have choice that you have on site care, in the frail care in the memory care. And in your cottage, you’ve got to consider your design you’ve got to consider carefully consider your care. It’s not about ticking boxes, it’s about everything you do you first asked the question, is this in the benefit of the resident to the benefit of the resident? Or are you just wanting to tick a box? If you just want to tick a box you’re not doing it right. Get it right. Think about it. Ask yourself if it were you, what would you want? If you were that retired person moving into that unit? Would you want access to all the right design elements and to all the right compassionate care even down to the training of the caring in your I don’t know, I’m going to go on and on and on about this. I’m sorry.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Please don’t be this because…
Helen Seaman
You’ve got to consider absolutely everything. We want personality-profiling on the carers that come into our village, for example. It can’t just be a job for them, they must be passionate about the elderly and want to and about caring for them.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
It’s the essence of what it is that you’re looking to achieve. And it really does. I’ve been researching in this area nigh on 30 years. And the model that you’re creating opens up some things that people haven’t in my opinion, and in my research really examined as thoroughly as you have. And so I want to thank you for sharing the thought processes behind this the passion that you have for it. And is it okay if we get back to you after you’ve opened and we leave it a little while and get back to you to find out any lessons learned.
Helen Seaman
Oh, with absolute pleasure. We’d love to chat to you again because as I say, if we’ve made any mistakes, we’d love to share them so other people can actually consider it. It’s all about making sure that the next retirement village is even better.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
Absolutely, Helen, thank you so much for being part of the podcast today.
Helen Seaman
Oh, thank you for inviting us. Thank you.
Lori Pinkerton-Rolet
And you’ll find direct links to this project on the podcast page for this episode at Third Age. Design. And we’re staying in South Africa for today’s Innovation Spotlight. More than 9% of South Africa’s population is over 60 years of age. Now, certainly not all of these people can afford to live a Great Oaks. And in fact, 55% of recent survey respondents say they cannot afford to save for retirement at all. There’s a company called Vox ICE standing for in case of emergency, which is the first of its kind in the country. Vox ICE consists of motion sensors installed strategically inside someone’s home with an alert pendant, which the elderly person wears. Now, this is not a new innovation in and of itself. Here’s the innovative part. The sensors are tied to what has been called ‘Deep Learning Engine’. And that’s something that notes trends and events around a person living on their own. So once an event outside of what is quote unquote normal takes place, such as a fall, or even someone not locking a door. An alert is automatically sent to a list of emergency contacts and a control centre. The pendant can even detect when a person falls outside the home and can also be used as a panic button. It’s more cost-effective than say in home care, or an external facility or village. You’ll find more on this innovation on the links on the podcast page for this episode at Third Age.Design. Just enough time then for our monthly review of the TAD International Events calendar. ReHaCare the world’s largest trade fair for rehab and care is taking place in Dusseldorf, Germany from the 12th to the 16th of September. London will host the Care and Retirement Living Conference on November 22. At the De Vere Grand Connaught rooms, and The Senior Living Executive Conference is being held in Phoenix, Arizona, USA from the 29th of April to the first of May in 2024. And you’ll find further details and additional listings on the Industry Events page at Third Age,Design. Thank you to today’s special guest Helen Seaman of Constantia Life, and The Great Oaks Retirement Village. And to the usual suspects …our Producer Mike Scales. Valerie Adler of The Right Website. And thank you also to Peter Thorne, who composed our theme music and is playing the piano with Mary Blanchard on flute. And of course, to our sponsor, Innova Care Concepts…the leading edge of health care. And finally, do you. Thank you for joining us. I’m Lori Pinkerton-Rolet and next month we’ll continue the World Series of Senior Living Design in a land which could not be a greater contrast to South Africa. It’s Iceland. The project we’re reviewing is all about geometry. Intrigued? I do hope you’ll join me.