Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/493534
A PR IL 2015 | 73 Dania Home Complex Care PHOTOGRAPHY DEREK LEPPER/COURTESY NSDA ARCHITECTS Dania Home Complex Care by LAURIE JONES S ince July 1944, Dania Home has been providing care for people who need extra assistance in their senior years. Situated in Burnaby, B.C. on 7.5 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, the Dania Campus of Care offers three levels of residences – Dania Home for complex care, Dania Manor for assisted living and Carl Mortensen Manor independent, sub- sidized living for people 55 and over. The new two-storey Dania Campus of Care facility has 102 beds, an increase from the former building that only had room for 65 people. Residents moved into their new home in March. "Watching the new facility being built was exciting for both the staff and residents," says Margaret Douglas- Matthews, executive director for the Dania Home Society and Normanna. "With the addition of state-of-the- art technology, we have the best possible point of care for each person. For exam- ple, iPads will be located behind a shadow box in each of the residents' rooms so the staff can record any issue right away. That will automatically pass information to nursing staff or generate work orders for maintenance rather than finding a piece of paper to record incidences and perhaps be distracted from the situation at hand. This addition will ensure our point of care philosophy is maintained." Douglas-Matthews explains that both floors of the facility are divided into six neighbourhoods, each area dealing with separate physical or mental health issues experienced by the residents. "Each of the neighbourhoods has seventeen beds," she says. "All the rooms are pri- vate, but we do accommodate couples because at the end of the corridor we have adjoining rooms rather than semis. The rooms also have ceiling lifts to assist staff in getting the resident out of bed to a wheelchair or to the washroom." She adds that best practices for infec- tion control were instigated in the serv- eries for food, including having separate dishwashers. "This provides a reduc- tion in labour and we are able to use that time for direct care with residents." Air- conditioning was installed throughout the building including kitchen, laundry, and common areas. Radiant heat floor- ing adds another layer or comfort for residents and staff. Architect Brian Dust says the building is an H-shape plan, which makes for easy wayfinding. "Each neighbourhood has its own dining, living and activity centre in addition to care stations and support services. Social spaces are clustered together in the open plan, which leads onto the garden area or, on the second floor, onto terraces." He adds that there is a large multi-purpose room that all the residents, family and staff can share and a hair salon is accessible for every- one who lives there. "A resident kitchen allows families who want to have a spe- cial dinner or event celebration." Dust says each of the neighbourhoods are named after local Danes who have contributed to the success of Dania Home. "We incorporated Dania Home's cultural collection of their cobalt blue Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates, a beautiful model of a Danish ship, incred- ible artwork and needlework through- out the building. There is a traditional Danish Lutheran church on the north- west corner of the complex featuring stepped corbeling up to the peak and the red roof." The Dania Home Society is a non-profit group but because funding is coming from Fraser Health, people of any nationality could live there. The interior design reflects a sense of calm, something that is a necessity in complex care homes. "We tried to keep focus on warmer tones for all the interiors and adding brightness to the space," says Aliki Gladwin, principal at Aliki Gladwin & Associates Inc. "Brian Dust was very good at keeping the archi- tecture quite neutral so that we were able to add pops of colour. He also incor- porated an interesting Danish light fix- ture that dates back to the 1950s." Security is paramount at Dania Home and to that end, doors on mag locks and keypads have been installed between the neighbourhoods to make sure the residents are safe, says Jeff Marin, proj- ect director with VanMar Constructors Inc. "There are walking loops within the LOCATION 4175 Norland Avenue, Burnaby, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER Dania Home Society / Normanna PROJECT MANAGER CPA Development Consultants ARCHITECT NSDA Architects DESIGN BUILD CONTRACTOR VanMar Constructors Inc. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT John Bryson & Partners MECHANICAL CONSULTANT Jade West Engineering Co. Ltd. ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Acumen Engineering LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT eta landscape architecture INTERIOR DESIGN CONSULTANT Aliki Gladwin & Associates Inc. TOTAL AREA 76,000 square feet TOTAL COST $15 million