llarion Seniors Residence Executive Director’s Report for the 2024 Annual General Meeting

Wow!!!

What a year at Ilarion Seniors Residence!

First, I would like to recognize Ken Isaak; our former Executive Director. Ken passed away a little over a year ago. We appreciate all his contributions to Ilarion Seniors Residence over his 17 years here, and for laying a solid financial footing that has allowed us to do so much this last year. Vichnaya Pamyat, Memory Eternal. We miss you.

We had a few other employees who left us in 2024, including Gary, Maria, Pooja, Isha, Michelle, Felisha, Marlene, and more recently, John. We wish them well in retirement and\or whatever new challenges they choose to pursue.

2024 was the last year of our 5-year Strategic Plan. We have been able to achieve everything we set out to do five years ago. Thank you to the Board and Team at Ilarion Seniors Residence for your efforts over this period.

We saw many changes at Ilarion Seniors Residence in 2024. We focused internally with a significant investment in the renewal of our building, including the following: 

• Phase 1 & 2 second floor and stairwells – additional lighting, removal of wallpaper, patching, sanding, painting, installation of new carpet and cove base, and new blinds.  

• Thank you to Igor, our friend from Ukraine, who worked so diligently in getting the hard work done. 

• We are working on adding new furnishings in 2025 and updating the décor. 

• We cleaned up our common areas and storage spaces. 

• We cleaned up and made the Boardroom, Library and Exercise Room more functional. 

• Our Key Fob \ Security project was completed, with a few minor technical aspects left to finalize. 

• We renovated 8 Independent Living Suites, including our Guest Room. 

• We had 6 Life Lease suites change hands which required varying levels of repair and renovations to each. 

• We installed a new concrete pad (and flowerpots) along the west side of the building to remedy a drainage problem that developed.
  

We worked hard to improve our relationships within the Ukrainian Community including All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Parish, Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Bishop Filevich School, and the Ukrainian Museum of Canada.

We appointed a Safety Officer for our building in 2024. Some of the accomplishments include the following:

• Most of our Team has taken Level 2 First-Aid Training. 

• We have approved first aid kits strategically placed throughout the building. 

• We have multiple team members who have taken OH&S training. 

• We have an AED machine on site and have trained our team members to use it properly. 

• We are more proactive in fire drill training and evacuation plans.   

• We participated in the City of Saskatoon Police Services Crime Free Multi-Housing program where we had them inspect our building, we sent 4 members to their multi-housing training program, and had the Police Service do a safety presentation to our residents.  

• We continue to have speakers on various aspects of safety including speakers from the City of Saskatoon Fire Department.  

• We continued to work with various suppliers to ensure the safety of operations and our residents including our fire suppression\sprinkler system, elevators, and boilers.  

In addition, we had several of our employees attend training to understand how to work with people with early stages of dementia with an emphasis on Respect in the Workplace.

We completed a review of our Life Lease agreements and operations in 2024. This enabled us to ensure we adhere to legal agreements with our Life Lease tenants.

We changed the kitchen menu and continue to work to ensure we are serving healthy appetizing meals. We purchased new plates and dishes, moving away from plastic. Lunch is now available for purchase, as well as a monthly meal plan. In addition, we have added monthly “Themed Dinners”.

“The Ilarion Experience” (Activities) Department has expanded programming extensively. Generally, mornings are a time for exercise programs (the main theme is helping prevent falls) for people with various levels of mobility. Afternoons are filled with fun activities including the following:  

• Monday – Crafts. 

• Tuesday – Spiritual. 

• Wednesday – Entertainers.  

• Thursday – Games.  

• Friday – Speakers and other. 

• Evenings are filled with tenant activities such as Bingo. In addition, Friday evening is a time for Socializing.

Thank you to all the volunteers who run\assist with programs - we sincerely appreciate the residents giving their time and expertise to the benefit of your neighbours. Also, we hope the residents that participate in the programs are enjoying themselves. The overriding theme of our programming is to create a ‘’Spiritual” community for our residents, where they can enjoy life with family and friends.

We worked on the way we communicate with residents in 2024, including the use of electronic media. We installed an E-Board on the first floor and added an additional one in early 2025 on the second floor. In addition, we upped our game using digital media, including a major update to our website and the use of Facebook. We installed a new computer in the library and worked on enhancing residents’ knowledge and capability to use computers.

We started to work with a firm of architects during the year to renovate the front office and lobby. We anticipate the project will proceed to construction in 2025. A major concern with the current front lobby area is safety. The current configuration creates a “pinch point” where ingress and egress are very restricted when multiple people, particularly with walkers or wheelchairs, move through the area simultaneously. We hope to remedy this problem when we renovate. We also hope to improve the aesthetics of the entrance while also making it more functional.

The front office and lobby project necessitated us to think through the “Museum” pieces that are spread throughout our building. Therefore, we brought in a team of experts from the Ukrainian Museum of Canada for their assistance and guidance. This project will continue through 2025. Thank you to Dr. Jen Budney and her team from the Ukrainian Museum of Canada for their assistance and guidance.

We had a sprinkler line spring a major leak in August which caused damage to part of our Assisted Living area and resident rooms. The logistics of getting it repaired are trying, however we did make progress by the end of 2024. Thank you to residents for their patience while these repairs are made.

The Board approved two independent living suites to be set aside to assist families impacted by the war in Ukraine in 2022. We were fortunate to be able to continue this support in 2024. The government program has come to an end in 2025; as a result, so will our assistance.

The turnover in our building was surprisingly high in 2024. I am not aware of anyone who moved because they were dissatisfied with the building and services we provide. The vast majority moved due to requiring additional health support.

Ilarion Seniors Residence’s Strategic Plan includes preparation of a Business Case to look at the possibility of providing Hospice\Palliative Care; this initiative continues in 2025.

Financially, 2024 was an interesting year. We incurred a deficit of $217,000. However, we spent nearly $600,000 on renewals in our building during 2024. This includes $190,000 for the Phase 1 & 2 hallway\stairwell renovation, and $275,000 for Phase 1 & 2 room renovations, and various other improvements. We ended the year with $1,300,000 in cash and deposits. All expenditures were planned and added to our facility.

First, thank you to the tenants, including the Tenant Association. Thank-you for accepting me into your “home” and making me feel welcome. I know some of you do did not agree with all the changes that were made. However, you were all very kind and listened to my reasoning. I enjoyed my days trying to have a positive impact on your lives.

Second, thank you to my team. I was new and made lots of changes. Change is not easy. I had the easy job; coming up with ideas. You, the team members, had the hard part; you did all the work implementing the ideas.

Lastly, thank you to the Board of Directors. I made you do considerably more work than you originally signed up for. The Executive Directors reports went from 1 page to 40 or more pages. More reading, more preparation time, and more decisions; not all easy. I sincerely appreciate your time, efforts, and mindful input at our meetings.

I look forward to 2025.