Christina Lake Village

A converted motel in Christina Lake offers residences as an open-concept living facility for seniors

A motel converted into residences is another model of meeting housing needs for seniors in the idyllic community of Christina Lake. —

photo courtesy Christina Lake Village

A motel in picturesque Christina Lake has taken new owners and a new purpose morphing from a lodging for tourists into community living space for seniors.

The new venture, Christina Lake Village, is an opportunity seized by Paula and Scott Harned as a way to stay working in a familiar career and build connections within the community.

The model the Harneds have designed isn’t based on a typical seniors care facility. Residents can come and go as they please and have all kinds of common space to spend time with other residents and the public.

“A lot of times, we’re building these almost mini-cities where everything the citizens need is within those four walls,” said Paula,  “where they don’t need to go outside and they lose that connection with the community—and there’s some valuable stories and lessons that society is losing.”

Christina Lake Village consists of 23 rooms dedicated as permanent living spaces and seven rooms in a separate building that will be operated as a motel for visiting family members or tourists. There is also an RV park with water and power hookups that people can book through the Harneds.

Each room is the resident’s own personal space, and they can rearrange and bring in furniture or paint the walls if it helps them feel at home, Harned said.

The intent is to give residents as much independence as possible to move around and interact with their community surroundings, Harned said, while making sure basic needs are met. Services available at Christina Lake Village include three meals a day prepared at a restaurant attached to the facility; the restaurant is also open to the public. A weekly linen and towel service is also available to residents.

Paula sits as a trustee for School District 22 in Vernon, and she grew interested in building an open-care facility where seniors could interact with the public community around them after hearing about a project in which one teacher taught students out of a seniors care facility for six to eight weeks of the year.

“That model has since been studied by SFU (Simon Fraser University)," said Paula, "(along with) the benefits of what happened for the students and the seniors."