Parkland Foundation has begun to build crucial partnerships in their bid to give Autumn Glen Lodge a multi-million dollar upgrade.
Parkland Foundation has begun to build crucial partnerships in their bid to give Autumn Glen Lodge a multi-million dollar upgrade.
Following a March 7 meeting attended by Municipal Affairs and the Bethany Group representatives, Parkland CAO Marie Flowers said she was confident they could secure financing for up to 75 per cent of the project at an interest rate of about 2 per cent.
"I think that it confirmed we are on the right track with our plans to date," Flowers said. "So that was hopeful."
The conversation comes on the heels of a Feb. 7 meeting with Greer Black, Bethany Group president and CEO, about the possibility of engaging the non-profit, which supports nearly 2,300 people and employs about 900 staff, in the future of the two-storey senior facility.
"We want to continue serving low-income seniors," she said. "We want them to be able to stay in the community and we want them to have a nice place to life – that’s more modern."
Flowers said working with the Bethany Group could help Autumn Glen Lodge incorporate higher levels of care and secure Alberta Health Services funding.
"I think they have the same values as Parkland Foundation," she said. "We don’t have any experience with the higher levels of care and they do. That’s why they were a good choice for us."
Karen Marshall, Autumn Glen’s manager of 32 years, said ever since the Long Term Care Review Committee released the "Broda" report in 1999, there has been more and more pressure on the lodge program across the province.
"They’re keeping people in their homes longer," she said. "So when they come here they’re needing more services."
The $22-million planned facility upgrades for the first three phases will help expand rooms to 300-400 square feet from the current sizes (some of which are just 140 square feet).
"Our biggest challenge is we have an aging facility," said Tracey Walker, Parkland’s board chair. "We need capital dollars to build that new facility."
She says seniors deserve to be treated fairly no matter their income.
"The opportunity is just to provide the level of health care that these people deserve," she said.
