MOOSOMIN — It’s been a year since Cobblestone House opened its doors in Moosomin, and things are running smoothly in the long-term care, assisted living and independent living facility. Currently, there are only eight of Cobblestone’s 42 units left, while Pipestone Villas—the two buildings that offer 48 units of 50-plus independent living right next to Cobblestone House as part of the same development—are now 100 per cent full with a waiting list.
“I think for the most part, everybody’s really happy and enjoying the things we have going on here every day, and in the community. The small community that we have here is good,” said Amber Hintz, Nurse Administrator at Cobblestone House. “Once they come here, they can move in as an independent and live independently, and as their care needs change or flex or go up and down, they can always stay here and move to assisted living or long-term care.”
The 42-unit facility is located by the Pipestone Villas, and the two entities share a unique relationship.
“Cobblestone has been wonderful because I know some of my residents have needed care for a while, but didn’t want to go to the nursing home or go down the road to another care home,” said Bernie Nosterud, Property Manager at Pipestone Villas. “We tried as best we could to get home care and other private services to them so they could stay here.”
There are 24 suites in each of the Gemstone and Sandstone buildings at Pipestone Villas, and Nosterud says all 48 units are currently spoken for.
“We do have people signing up on our waitlist quite regularly now,” she said. “So it’s a good idea if people think that this is where they want to be to put their name down on the waitlist.”
The general idea in building the facilities so close together was to allow for a smooth transition of care as needs change without residents needing to leave the communities they are already a part of.
“We have quite a few residents that used to live at the villas that have moved in here,” Hintz said. “And then we have some family members that live at the villas that have their mothers or fathers or others they know either living here or interested in living here because their children live at the villas.”
Some residents of the villas also drop by Cobblestone to visit and join in activities, making for a wider community between the three properties.
“We actually have a guest suite here at Cobblestone that people can rent out for a night or a week or whatever it might be, and that guest suite is open to any family members who have people coming to visit who live in Cobblestone or either of the villas,” Hintz explained.
Nosterud summed up the symbiotic relationship between Pipestone Villas and Cobblestone House best, referring to the entities as siblings.
“We consider ourselves sisters, because whoever we have here that needs to be there, it’s in their best interest to go to Cobblestone because we’re independent living, so we don’t do all the services that Cobblestone does,” she said. “What’s really nice about having Cobblestone right next door now is if the residents of the villas need the services, they can go over there. But, from what I understand, they’re filling up quite quickly, too, so it’s been good.”
Younger demographic moving in
One trend Nosterud has noticed lately is a younger demographic moving into the Pipestone Villas.
“We actually have a younger demographic moving in now, they’re not waiting until they’re 80 or 90 to come in,” she said. “They’re coming in their 70s so they’ll be here a lot longer.”
Gemstone and Sandstone are independent living with large suites—and no maintenance like grass to mow or snow to shovel. Another definite plus that Nosterud noted was people who travel do not have to worry about their property “because you just turn the key and leave here.”
“We’ve been lucky to move the residents that needed to move,” Nosterud said. “We moved them to Cobblestone and had people that were ready to move into the suites that were just vacated, so now we’re 100 per cent full.”
Properties attracting people from outside the area
Another trend both places have noticed is that of residents moving in from outside the Moosomin area; folks with some tie to Moosomin, but who are new to town.
“It’s not just a local, it’s from the cities,” Nosterud said. “They’re moving from Regina, just coming in because maybe they have family here and they want to be closer, but they don’t want to be in the same town.”
Hintz says she is seeing the same, listing a few of the places outside of Moosomin where residents of Cobblestone hail from.
“We’ve got Redvers, we’ve had Langenburg, we’ve had Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Rocanville, which I would still consider this community, but lots from other areas that move here for multiple reasons,” she said.
Both Hintz and Nosterud noted the recent general boom that Moosomin has been experiencing has been a large part of that draw.
One myth Hintz would like to see dispelled is that facilities like Cobblestone House are expensive, and may be out of financial reach for many people.
“One thing that I know that we do struggle with in our community is just the misconception that it’s too expensive to live here, which is absolutely not the case,” she said. “If you sit down and actually do the math of what it costs nowadays to run a house if people broke it down as to what their insurance costs are, maybe they don’t have a mortgage, but what the upkeep of their home is and all of that kind of stuff—their groceries and their transportation or gas—all that. If they figured out what the cost is to stay where they are at, they would probably see how affordable it is to live here. Then on top of that, you get the community that we have built here—more like a family, actually—so there’s definitely more benefits than I think meets the eye.”
With Cobblestone House filling up, staffing needs have increased as capacity levels near the top. Hintz says they’re actively pursuing relief nurses and volunteers at Cobblestone right now.
Ultimately, the end result of all the work is the experience of residents, and Hintz was quick to tell of the adventure those who call Cobblestone home embark on.
“We use the Dial a Van regularly and get them out,” she said. “Yesterday, they were out at the coffee at the Legion, and we take them for ice cream, we take them down to Tim Hortons to decorate smile cookies, and we try and get them out into the community as much as we can.”
Cobblestone also invites the community into their home as well for events such as live music, and the spring and fall bazaars.
