The Village Langley has a clear vision and story. Read and find out more from Elroy Jespersen, who outlines the vision and story behind The Village philosophies. The why, how, and what on making every day, a great day, for each Villager is outlined.
The Village Story
Every organization has a story. Their story tells the world why they exist; how they will bring their story to life; and what each person can expect while interacting with them.
The why articulates their purpose and vision, and identifies shared beliefs, principles, and goals to be achieved.
The how describes the way people will work together to honour the principles and achieve their goals. In other words, it describes the culture that the organization aspires to create.
The what talks about the products and services the organization will provide and how these products and services will impact those who receive them.
It is imperative that each person interacting with the organization clearly understand the why, how, and what of the organization. Without this common and collective understanding, each person will create their own story about the organization and focus on what they feel is important, which perhaps isn’t what the organization collectively feels and believes.
The Story is like the North Star. It’s always there for everyone to see and it guides everyone on the collective journey.
The Village Langley Story
The Village Langley was created to demonstrate a better way to support and enable well being for the people who choose to live there; especially those people living with dementia.
As such, we believe that we need to do many things different from what other Assisted Living or Long Term Care communities may be doing.
The Village Langley aspires to become a community where people who are experiencing changing cognitive and/or physical abilities can live their own best life and experience a sense of well being and fulfillment, whatever that might mean for them.
When people are living their own best life and achieving our goal of having “a good day, every day”, we believe that they will be having an enriched living experience.
We believe an ‘enriched living’ experience happens when each person’s identity is well known. This means having knowledge of their past history, their current needs and preferences and a deep understanding of their dreams, fears and desires.
It happens when each person feels a connectedness to things that matter to them. Things like friends, family, hobbies, pets, communities of interest and their faith.
It happens when they feels a sense of security, and are free of fears, doubts and worries.
It happens when they remain in control of the decisions impacting their daily living. Things like when to rise, what to eat, where to go, who to see, what to do, and not do.
It happens when each person has opportunities to learn and experience new things, or to become reacquainted with a long lost skill.
It happens when they have a purpose and a reason to get out of bed each day.
It happens when there are opportunities to be of service to others, including other Villagers as well as people living outside The Village.
And it happens when each person regularly experiences love, laughter, and moments of joy.
Our basic premise is that The Village is first and foremost a community where Villagers can live an enriched life and achieve a sense of well-being and fulfillment.
We recognize that for each person to experience a sense of well being, they must first achieve and maintain a basic level of physical and mental comfort. When a person is experiencing pain, dehydration, hunger, lack of sleep, depression, etc., most everything else becomes secondary. Hence, each person must be supported with their physical and psychological care needs to the degree that they will not limit the person’s ability to experience well being and fulfillment; in other words, an enriched life.
The provision of physical and psychological care must always be in support of each person’s enriched living experience and not simply an ‘end’ unto itself. Comfort is the beginning, not the end.
The primary role of each Household Team supporting the Villagers who live in the Cottage where they work, is to facilitate enriched living for each person. These Enriched Living Facilitators do this by putting the day-to-day focus on how each person can best live each day, even though they may require significant supports/care in order to do so. These medical, physical and cognitive supports, though important, are always in support of each person having a good day, and are a means to that end, and should not be the primary reason to live here.
While The Village Teams work to facilitate an enriched living experience for each person, they do so in a way that honours the following shared principles:
Person Directed Living which is supported by Person Directed Care.
- Each person’s care is always in support of each person living their own best life.
- Create a true home with each person.
- Each House is home for the people who live there and the physical and social environment must always reflect and support that.
- A Roam Free Environment
- Each person has the freedom to roam within and about The Village and any barriers to doing so, whether physical or psychological, must be eliminated to the greatest extent possible.
- Embrace Normal
- Each Villager’s daily routine reflects what they would ‘normally’ do in their own home.
- Institutional routines and practices will be eliminated to the greatest extent possible.
- Familiar Household Teams
- The foundation for an enriched living experience is that each Villager is deeply known by the people who support them.
As we work to honour our shared principles and to ensure that each Villager is living their own best life, we will endeavour to support each person in the least restrictive environment.
- The foundation for an enriched living experience is that each Villager is deeply known by the people who support them.
Our Enriched Living and Person Directed philosophy, our commitment to creating home and deeply knowing each person, and our secure roam free physical environment, makes The Village a unique community and the ideal place for people living with dementia to live their own best life for as long as they live.
If this is what you want for your loved one, The Village is a great place to be.
