Barb Payne says because the home is just opening, its introduction to the Kanata community must be consistent. “There has to be a strong knowledge base in long-term care, which is an environment of constant change,” says Barb.

The vision for Garden Terrace is ripe for development, says Barb, because in the absence of history there is only potential to work with. “Everything here is new. So we have to get our foundations right,” says Barb.

The administrator points out that the home opened with the multidose and Tena systems in place, so now it’s time to address occupancy issues. The home has 85 residents in place but has 160 available beds. The waiting list to get in has almost been exhausted, leaving the sparkling new home with an overarching goal in the coming months – filling up.

“We’re marketing every way we can. We’ve gone to malls, we do tours here at the drop of a hat, we have a drop-down sign on the home itself and we go to senior’s centres…we’re trying whatever we can to make it happen,” says Barb.

Garden Terrace faces stiff competition. Across the highway OMNI’s Forest Hill is almost the same size and is less than two years old. There are 600 long-term care beds that have opened in the last six months in Kanata.

Barb says it is very important for resident care and public opinion that Garden Terrace always maintain a high level of care. “We have to look for opportunities to talk it up. We want to be on a future resident’s top- three list when it comes time to choose a home,” says Barb.