LIVING
Retirement Living
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Jeff Leiper
Community helps cat rescue Pages 12-13
City Councillor conseiller municipal
613-580-2485 kitchissippiward.ca
August 2021
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Tea& Toast
Amy Friesen, Tea & Toast founder and CEO, speaks to a group of seniors in the Ottawa community. Tea & Toast is a local business that helps seniors and their families on their retirement living search. Photo courtesy of Tea & Toast.
Local business helps seniors with retirement living journey By Maureen McEwan If you’ve ever started a retirement living search, you know how daunting it can be. There’s a lot of information to process, new terminology to learn, all while you manage many emotions about a potential move. For years, a local company has been helping seniors and their families navigate it all — the good and the bad
— along their retirement living journey. Tea & Toast was created by Amy Friesen, founder and CEO, in May 2014 after she had worked in the industry for nearly a decade. “I really just saw a need to have somebody help advocate, have somebody help navigate and guide people and families through the transition,” said Friesen. “It’s always been my opinion that retirement living
search and navigation doesn’t need to be as hard as it is — it tends to be quite hard for families but shouldn’t have to be.” “What we can do is bring some clarity to it,” she added. Friesen started up the business on her own but there’s now three consultants and an administrative staff member who work with her. The team works with over 150 clients per year — some for weeks or months — to find the right space or level of care. “Our most popular service provides you with a thorough search of senior housing in Ottawa. A trustworthy and caring Tea and Toast advisor will get to know your needs, wants, budget, and location preferences, and present
you with three options, schedule tours (in person or virtually) with those residences, and accompany you on each in-person tour,” the company website states. Friesen said individuals tend to stay in their homes for as long as possible. When they move to retirement living, it can be for the socialization aspect (which they encourage), or for access to care. The industry levels of care exist in the same “ecosphere” but they operate very differently from home to home, company to company, Friesen said, adding that it isn’t like booking a hotel where the rooms and prices are standardized. Continues on page 23
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