We are all here
for the same reason

Elroy Jesperson

Project Leader

To say Elroy Jespersen has known congregate living and care homes since birth isn’t an exaggeration. His parents ran a large home for kids, located on a small farm near Wetaskiwin, Alberta. Life was, and is, normal to Elroy when he’s surrounded by people, animals, and nature.

After earning a university degree, managing several community centres and a senior centre, as well as owning a small fitness business, Elroy found his way back to congregate living. Through a career with Verve, he started managing senior communities developed by Canbrit.

Nearly thirty years on, Elroy is ready to retire. But there is one special project delaying his retirement – the creation of a new kind of seniors community. A community that will be the first of many and ultimately help shift the paradigm of how elders are cared for and supported in Canada. “This is my last project,” he admits. “This project is about doing it because it needs to be done; in some ways it’s the culmination of my life’s work.”

After spending decades in an industry that primarily focuses on elders’ physical needs and their limitations, he wants to help create a memory care community – or rather a dementia-capable community – that focuses on a person’s overall well-being. “We need to do things differently,” Elroy implores. “There is such a thing as surplus safety: a focus on safety to the detriment of everything else. Purpose, meaningful activities, well-being and fulfillment are often totally neglected, and these matter just as much, if not more.”

Over the years, Elroy has learned about and been inspired by several alternative approaches to senior living, like de Hogeweyk in Holland and the Green House Project in the United States. In these communities, residents maintain the highest level of independence possible, along with a sense of freedom and control over their daily lives. He talks about the “dignity of risk,” pointing out that it’s a balance to ensure the environment is safe without limiting or taking away a person’s choices.

Safety is a byproduct, not a goal. Rather, the goal of The Village is “enriched living,” Elroy explains. “We don’t want the primary focus to be on a person’s disease or disability, but on how The Village is a great place for people to live despite any disease or diagnosis they might be living with. We want to enable and enrich each resident’s living as much as possible for as long as possible.”