What Draws a Real Estate Association to Join a Grassroots Healthy Aging Project?

A unique and exciting grassroots healthy aging project in New Brunswick includes one small detail that can’t help but spark curiosity. Of the 30 or so organizations that have joined the effort, all but one offer services or conduct related research in health care or seniors’ care.
So what brings the New Brunswick Real Estate Association to join this project?

According to CEO Jamie Ryan, it all started with a happenstance conversation with international business consultant and facilitator Charles Holmes, who was involved in both the healthy aging project and some work with the real estate association.

Jamie recalls the dinner convening Atlantic Canada real estate professionals when Charles told this amazing story of people rallying around a common vision to change the future of seniors’ aging and care in New Brunswick.

Immediately, Jamie and some of his New Brunswick colleagues felt compelled to join. Like most New Brunswick residents, they’re keenly aware that the province is quickly becoming home to Canada’s oldest population.

And while they may not be providing overt health and seniors’ care, the nature of the real estate professionals’ work does mean they’re always involved in the life transitions of people, including seniors. As a result, they bring a rare purview on seniors’ issues related to housing.

Joining the effort also made sense to an association committed to fostering quality of life in the communities where it works, both through its direct services and extracurricular activities.

The association’s involvement with the project included a financial donation to enable a one-time Maestro Conference setup. Association board member Austin Drisdelle also donated some of his own money for this setup.

The association has since committed to having a board member present at discussions and activities of the project, which has become a provincial collaborative of more than 30 organizations.

For its part, the collaborative has been intentionally structured to welcome and optimize the engagement of all wishing to get involved, even the unlikely players. As Jodi Hall, director of operations for the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes, says, the effort focused from the get-go on building trust and energy around a shared vision. The result is the creation of system capacity that never existed before.

For more on the collaborative, visit this link.

Writer: Michelle Strutzenberger