Retirement Homes Fees

Residents of local Revera Inc. retirement homes are dodging a spike to their service fees after the company backed down on a new model. "I think they'll probably just put it on hold for awhile," said Marlene Kawalez, whose 82-year-old mother Anna lives at Fergus Place in Kitchener. The company, which operates nearly 250 residences in Canada and the U.S., proposed a new fee-for-service model in July. The model that featured an "à la carte" list of services ranged from charges of $235 per month for medication administration to $396 for eye drops twice daily en suite. For Kawalez, this would have meant a $900 increase to the almost $2,500 already being paid for her mother to live at the home. According to Revera spokesperson Sandra Vlaar Ingram, in mid-August the company decided not to move forward with the new fee structure. The decision was made because of feedback from their residents, she said. "We listened to the feedback of our residents and made a decision to …