How COVID is Influencing Design of Inglewood Care Centre

The pandemic has only been around a year - but it will have a permanent impact on how long-term care homes are designed and built in the future. This became evident as plans are laid to renovate and expand the Inglewood Care Centre in West Vancouver.

Baptist Housing bought Inglewood just before the COVID-19 outbreak, with plans to replace the existing 57-year-old building and then add more seniors housing to the mix. There’s a shortage. West Vancouver is forecast to need up to 1100 new housing units for seniors by 2041.

What we’ve learned from COVID-19 will certainly mean a new approach to how seniors housing is designed in the future.

The pandemic is informing the redesign of the new Inglewood so that during times of viral outbreaks or even a pandemic, we will be able to avoid unnecessary contact as much as possible between team members and the seniors who will live there. Plans include such things as separate elevators for team members and residents, individual in-suite bathrooms for each resident, food delivery and other services through the “back of house” only, and special isolation strategies they’re building in for any future viral outbreaks like the flu or COVID-19-like diseases.

All part of our new awareness to keep seniors safe.

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