Nisbet Lodge– an extraordinary & unique place

Nisbet Lodge, a Long-Term Care Home, has been serving the East York community for almost 40 years. Founded by members of Calvary Church, the Home prides itself on providing compassionate, quality care. Rooted in strong Christian values and a powerful guiding mission, it is an ideal living environment for seniors who wish to continue their faith journey.

On the doorstep of the thriving Danforth neighbourhood, Nisbet Lodge is home to 103 residents; making it ideally sized to provide a wide range of programs, services and activities while retaining a true home-like atmosphere. The warmth and spirit of Nisbet Lodge is evident as you are welcomed at the front door. Staff know each Resident by name, and the sense of family and belonging prevails throughout the home and in each relationship between residents, families and employees. The Lodge is blessed to have many long-serving, warm and caring staff who are passionate about caring for seniors in a faith based environment.

Nisbet Lodge exudes the good that is found in long-term care homes. Here, residents receive the care, support and services they need to live a comfortable and enjoyable life that has meaning and purpose for them. With its commitment to quality and resident-centred care, Nisbet has nurtured a solid reputation for its standard of excellence; a standard that has been acknowledged through its 3-year accreditation rating by Accreditation Canada. Nisbet’s accomplishments and its dedication to those it serves have positioned the Home as a long-term care home of choice in the East Toronto community.

Nisbet Lodge is one part of a unique continuum of care community in the heart of the Danforth; McClintock Manor completes the community by offering an apartment residence for independent seniors immediately adjacent and physically connected to Nisbet Lodge. This vibrant community of seniors offers many opportunities for tenants of the Manor to join residents in activities at Nisbet Lodge. The thirteen-storey buildings of Nisbet Lodge and McClintock Manor create a visual presence at Pape and Danforth, but it is the active participation of the residents, tenants, families, volunteers and staff in life on the Danforth that truly connects this organization to its culturally-rich, urban neighbourhood. Conveniently, Calvary Church is also attached to Nisbet Lodge, making Church attendance a welcome and convenient option for Residents. Nisbet Lodge is a proud and integral part of the neighbourhood and greater East Toronto community.

A challenge for the community

Nisbet Lodge is the last remaining Not-for-Profit, Charitable Long-Term Care Home in the Toronto-Danforth area. Over the last 10 years, two other homes have had to relocate to Scarborough in order to build their new homes.
In the bigger picture, the need for long-term care beds in Ontario is acute. Currently, one in six hospital beds is occupied by patients who should be receiving care elsewhere. These patients tend to be older, with an average age of 80 and tend to have dementia and other chronic conditions. This situation is critical in the City of Toronto with over 637 people on the long-term care wait list as of June 2011.

Like all hospitals, Toronto East General relies on long-term care homes like Nisbet Lodge to provide appropriate care to its eligible patients and thus, maintain the flow of persons through the healthcare system. Toronto East General serves one of the oldest populations in Toronto. The actual loss of hundreds of long-term care beds to Scarborough and the potential loss of Nisbet Lodge beds places considerable stress on the hospital’s ability to serve its community effectively and efficiently. Nisbet Lodge is a long-standing and valued partner of the Hospital, and plays a critical role in alleviating the systemic healthcare pressures in the region. It is in large part Nisbet’s commitment to its community and its role in addressing the demands of the healthcare system that drives the Board to seek opportunities for redevelopment in its surrounding neighbourhoods.

Our challenge: Status quo is not an option

In 1973, Nisbet Lodge was built as a residential care home for seniors who required minimal levels of support and service. With a change in provincial legislation governing homes, the mandate of Nisbet Lodge transitioned to the care of persons with significant cognitive and physical challenges. The building was not designed to effectively accommodate the current and future complex and heavy care requirements of Residents. Delivering care and service to residents in a high rise building is difficult and labour intensive. While the building is situated in a prime location and provides magnificent views of the city in all directions, its function as a long-term care home has outlived its purpose.

Of most pressing concern, our building no longer meets the latest Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care design standards. This means that in less than 15 years, Nisbet Lodge is required by legislation to bring the building into structural compliance with the design standards or risk losing its license to operate as a long-term care home. While Nisbet Lodge is eligible for capital funding under the Ministry’s capital renewal program, industry experience illustrates that the funding is inadequate for redeveloping an urban home where the cost of land (if an appropriate parcel can be found), development fees and construction costs are extremely high.

Furthermore, there is less than 10 years remaining to access the funding program. The pressures associated with redevelopment are overwhelming for a moderately sized, not-for-profit, charitable long-term care organization.
Despite these challenges, the vibrant spirit of Nisbet Lodge is as strong as ever. Our staff and volunteers expertly use the space we have and residents enjoy the Lodge as their home. However, the building issues continue to mount as its systems and infrastructure age and the care requirements increase. Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care expectations of the physical environment are focused on safety, cleanliness and appearance; it is becoming increasingly more difficult to meet these expectations. Nisbet is at a critical juncture in its operations and the building issue must be resolved in the very near future. We are acutely aware of our inability to provide the type of home environment our residents so deserve. Status quo is no longer an option

Our opportunity: Create a plan to redefine the future

Due to a variety of building and site constraints, Nisbet Lodge is uniquely challenged in planning for its redevelopment. There is no straightforward, easy solution to the host of issues associated with an urban redevelopment project involving a long-term care home.  Rebuilding Nisbet Lodge in the city, let alone its Danforth community, continues to be an elusive dream.

We are driven to find the best possible solution for our Home, including the residents that live here and our committed staff. We are working closely with a talented team of professionals who share our passion and concern about Nisbet Lodge. These eldercare specialists, together with our leadership and small but skilled group of volunteer Board and committee members, continue to explore opportunities that will ultimately culminate in the ideal redevelopment plan for Nisbet Lodge. As a formidable team driven by passion, we are actively researching best practices, forging partnerships, exploring ideas, lobbying, advocating and putting in place the process to match our needs with possible solutions.

Although we remain challenged, we have faith that our work will be rewarded.

Our need to redevelop is well recognized and we are confident that once we have a solid plan, our partners at the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care will support us moving forward. Until then, we need corporate and individual supporters to become stakeholders and investors to keep our work progressing toward our preferred redevelopment plan. We must find investors who share our dream and have faith that we will create and define a workable plan. Together, we share a responsibility to redefine the future for Nisbet Lodge.

Your investment is critically needed

We must start now. Nisbet Lodge cannot access the limited planning funds available from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care until it makes a commitment to redevelop the Home. It is too premature to make this commitment as Nisbet has yet to determine its most viable redevelopment option. As such, Nisbet Lodge must self-fund all of the critical work being done to create its redevelopment plan. Private, individual investment is needed.

The founders of Nisbet Lodge and McClintock Manor had a bold and daring vision. They had a dream that evolved into a Christian community of care for seniors in East Toronto. We must now take that legacy and answer it with our new vision for the future.

Nisbet Lodge has always responded to ever changing needs of the East Toronto community. Members of the Board, staff, volunteers and families consider their stewardship of this valued community resource to be an important and meaningful mission. We invite you to join us in this mission; help us to create a bold future for Nisbet Lodge.

For more information on the future of Nisbet Lodge or to make a donation to help ensure Nisbet will be here for generations of seniors to come you can contact me by phone at 416-469-1105 extension 1123 or by email at g.moorhouse@nisbetlodge.com.

Sincerely,

Glen Moorhouse
Chief Executive Officer