Lifestyle

How a virtual video tour can help you find the right retirement residence

Ask care questions, tour suites and see Amica’s exquisite dining areas and amenities, all from the comfort of your own home

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video tour may be worth more. After all, when you’re trying to choose senior housing or a retirement residence, it’s ideal to be able to see and experience a place. A video tour certainly helped one Victoria couple choose a Toronto Amica residence without leaving home.

Amica Bayview Gardens Lobby featuring the armchairs, piano and a fireside.

Always innovating, Amica is now offering personalized live and pre-recorded video tours of its elegant residences in some of Canada’s top neighbourhoods. Booking a no-obligation tour allows you to ask questions and see Amica’s outstanding dining, amenities, activities, senior care and safety measures in action — all without setting foot outside your house.

“When I do a live video tour, I’m not just showing off spaces like the Penthouse Lounge with its amazing view of the skyline. I’m also introducing you to the concierge, team members and residents, so you experience the warmth and connection we’re known for,” says Selina MacDonald, Community Relations Director at Amica On The Avenue, who also prepares pre-recorded tours of available suites upon request. “It gives seniors and caregivers confidence to envision what it’s like to live here.”

Prepare your senior living questions in advance

Have your top senior housing and care queries on hand so that you can make the most of your live video tour experience. Start by creating a list of questions by talking to other seniors and caregivers and reading articles such as How to research senior living residences, Touring a senior living residence, What to ask on a tour and Questions to ask on a Memory Care tour. Then share those queries and your priorities when you’re booking the virtual tour. It also helps personalize your experience if you can indicate whether you’re most interested in Independent Living, Assisted Living or Memory Care at Amica.

“Share what’s most important to you, because then we can tailor the tour experience for you,” says MacDonald. “The more we know about the things you love to do, the more details we can show you.”

You don’t have to be a tech expert, either. Community relations team members at Amica will work with you or a family member to organize the virtual tour on whatever device or platform that you’re most comfortable with, whether that’s FaceTime on an iPad or Zoom on a desktop computer. Once the live tour begins, you can ask as many questions as you like and ask to see specific spaces within the residence, such as the pool, the pub or different suites available, depending on your interests.

Do the research from home

If you’re trying to choose between staying at home or moving into a private retirement living residence, it’s helpful to see a wide variety of places so you understand which activities, amenities and care services are available. But physically touring multiple residences can be challenging or restricted when people are staying home due to COVID-19. Thus, Amica’s helpful virtual tours combine information with ease.

“Being able to imagine yourself in a space is crucial when you’re making a decision to move from a house that you’ve lived in for 30 years,” says MacDonald. “It really helped one lovely couple who recently moved all the way from Victoria, B.C. to Amica on the Avenue in Toronto to be closer to their family. It was pretty overwhelming, but now they say they’re so grateful that they made the move and are safe — as well as vaccinated for COVID-19 this past weekend.”

When living at home is no longer working for you, please book a virtual tour at Amica. You’ll learn more about inspiring lifestyles for seniors including Red Seal-chef prepared meals, extraordinary amenities, activities and flexible, personalized care.