Nicole Arranz lights up whenever she sees or hears children visiting Perley Health’s east-end Ottawa campus.
“My mom loves kids, and being around kids brings life to her,” said Josée Arranz, her daughter. “Interacting with kids and playing with them brings joy to her and her friends. She gets so excited when they’re coming to visit – she can’t wait.”
The elder Arranz was a paediatric nurse and is now a great-grandmother of eight. Living in long-term care, she has called Perley Health on Russell Road home since 2018, and her favourite days are those where a group of children visit with residents and tenants for a regular Friday morning play group.
The play group is part of an intergenerational wellness effort to intentionally create opportunities for meaningful interactions and relationship-building between the children and the seniors residing at Perley Health. The program has been so well received that Perley Health is planning a significant expansion over the next year funded by the Bridging Generations campaign, a $2-million fundraising effort between now and its expected opening in June 2026.
Improving quality of life for seniors – and children
Perley Health’s innovative community for seniors and veterans offers a growing number of clinical, therapeutic, and recreational services to its residents and tenants and those across the region. The Perley Health expansion will add an on-site Early Learning and Care Centre, in partnership with Andrew Fleck Children’s Services, to provide regular interactions between the more than 600 seniors and veterans living on-site and children.
The benefits aren’t just for residents: Children can interact with both seniors and veterans throughout Perley Health to foster intergenerational understanding and gain a better appreciation of Canada’s military history.
“We saw a gap and an opportunity,” said Delphine Haslé, executive director and chief development officer with Perley Health. “It’s really inspired by evidence: Purposeful intergenerational connection improves quality of life and health for seniors and children, too.”
While the organization plans to staff the Early Learning and Care Centre to host 49 children, the purpose-built Early Learning and Care Centre will feature a large communal space to bring seniors and kids together. It will feature several innovations to ensure a welcoming environment, such as:
- Adaptive furniture, for increased comfort and accessibility for individuals with disabilities or those who need adjustable seating.
- Dementia friendly design.
- Sound-absorbing features such as light fixtures and ceiling tiles to reduce unwanted noise and improve privacy.
- Large windows for improved natural light and views of the outside.
- A kitchen space that can be used by seniors and children at the same time.
‘Good for business’: Helping the ‘sandwich generation’ navigate busy schedules
Beyond children and seniors, the project – along with Perley Health’s existing SeeMe® Care collaborative model of personalized care plans, driven by the organization’s Centre of Excellence in Frailty-Informed Care™ – will particularly help those in the so-called “sandwich generation.” These are typically parents 45 to 64 who care for both aging parents and young children.
“Being a caregiver is difficult, and not everyone has a grandpa and grandma around,” added Haslé. “Resources like this, which help professionals who may be under pressure to provide care, are good for people and good for business. It’s important for businesses to invest in solutions that support people at every stage of life.”
Haslé said Perley Health wants to partner with organizations and individuals interested in investing in this vision, as well as organizations seeking employee engagement initiatives through working with seniors.
“It’s a rare opportunity to be a part of a national first, intergenerational hub that will set the standard of care for our community, and for our country,” she said. The centre is the first purpose-designed, intergenerational early learning and care centre that functions for both children and seniors.
Early childhood educators and Perley staff working in the space will design and deliver programming that is appropriate for all ages. The project – intended as a proof-of-concept, bringing an idea more commonly seen overseas to Canada – will be supported through follow-up research to assess the impact on children, seniors, and the broader community.
Arranz, a supporter of the campaign, echoed that sentiment, saying the project is important to the Perley community and helps build empathy, social skills, and a sense of purpose for all involved.
“It’s important that we recognize the value in the intergenerational connections and transfer of information, of love, of community,” she said. “It takes a village to raise a child, and at the Perley, they are living that.”
