About & History
Our Reason for Being
To create a home where people are supported to live with independence, connection, and purpose in daily life.
Our Commitment
To create a safe and welcoming home where each person feels known, respected, and part of a community.
To provide support thoughtfully shaped around each person’s needs, abilities, interests, and life story.
To encourage independence, connection, and meaningful moments in daily life so that each person continues to experience purpose and belonging.
History
Highview began in 1996 when Ruth Constable, R.N., with the encouragement of her husband Jack and their long-time colleague and friend Camille Taylor, opened a small home in London and named it Highview.
After nearly three decades serving people in retirement and long-term care homes, Ruth believed that many people living with dementia (including Alzheimer’s) did not need an institutional setting — they needed a home. The original Highview welcomed eight people and became a place where daily life continued with familiarity, respect, and care.
Before opening Highview, Ruth served as Leader of Nursing at Kensington Village in London, where she cared for a gentleman named Stan Harris. Through that relationship she came to know Stan’s daughter, Cathy Chapin. When Cathy and her husband Ross later began planning a new home for people living with dementia, Ruth joined the team.
In 2003, the first Highview home opened in London, carrying forward the traditions and philosophy that began in Ruth’s original home. Franklin House opened first, followed by Chapin House, establishing the cottage model that continues to guide Highview today.
In 2017, Highview expanded to Kitchener-Waterloo with the opening of its first of two homes in that community. Nearly a decade later, in 2026, Highview Lucan opened in a thoughtfully renovated three-storey home, evolving the model further by bringing together seniors, people living with dementia, and adults with developmental disabilities and neurodiversity within one shared home and community.
Today, Highview continues to honour the vision that first inspired Ruth’s work — creating homes where people are supported to live with independence, connection, and purpose in daily life, because at Highview, home is at the heart of everything we do.