INNISFAIL - More seniors from Innisfail and area will finally be able to age more comfortably closer to home with their families, friends and support networks.
That was the repeated message passionately brought out by high-ranking seniors' advocates at an emotional media conference on Dec. 12 for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the long-awaited construction of the $24.2-million replacement Autumn Glen Lodge for seniors. It is a critically important community project that was first launched more than three and a half years ago with a funding announcement by the previous provincial Progressive Conservative government in partnership with the federal government.
"There are no words that could express how I feel today. It has been a long time coming. It is about the seniors and their families who this will serve in the future," said Connie Huelsman, chair of the Parkland Foundation, who noted actual construction had actually started last September. "We've had our ups and downs but we did get through. It is on scope for 2020 to get finished. It will be a beautiful facility."
Huelsman was joined at the media conference by a score of top-ranking seniors' advocates and government officials, including Innisfail mayor Jim Romane -- along with mayors from other regional municipalities; Melodie Stol of The Bethany Group; Elena Salikhov, a specialist with the affordable housing division with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation; and Barb Miller, Red Deer-South MLA, who represented Lori Sigurdson, the provincial government's seniors' minister.
"We are going to have a few more units in town for affordable housing and as the mayor said it will hopefully keep people in our community and hopefully in the future we will see an expansion with the facility and that will hopefully facilitate more people to stay in the community," said Innisfail councillor Jean Barclay, council's representative on the Parkland Foundation board of directors.
The lodge will replace the current 57-year-old 62-room assisted living facility that became increasingly inadequate for both staff and residents. The new home for seniors will be a glitzy three-storey, 74,000-square-foot lodge and independent living facility on the southwest corner of the current 5.74-acre property. The replacement Autumn Glen will have 60 new lodge units and 30 self-contained apartments.
"This is huge for the community. There is such a need for updated seniors' housing," said Miller, noting the current lodge is one of the oldest of its kind in the province. "Seniors deserve to live in comfort in their declining years. It was a project that took a while but we got what was needed where it was needed and it is going to be huge for the area."
As for the length of time it took to get construction started after funding was announced in the spring of 2015, Miller said a consultation process needed to be done for the entire catchment area.
"It has to be a building that meets the needs for all and it's not something you can do cookie-cutter style," said Miller. "You have to address it to the needs of the area, which it has done with the self-contained apartments and the lodge format. It is much larger and I think it is just great for the community."
In the meantime, Huelsman said there is still much work and lobbying for the foundation to do in the future to ensure the replacement Autumn Glen remains a top--notch facility for seniors for years after current construction is completed. She said there are future project levels that will become essential needs, including a dementia wing.
"Even though construction is not complete we have to get in the queue for a bigger scope for this area," she said, conceding the new Autumn Glen could some day be the model for all future seniors' housing facilities across Central Alberta and even beyond.
"It is one of a kind," added Huelsman of the new facility. "We could have gardening spots so seniors can get more involved. There could be some barbecue areas. It is genuinely an upbeat, upfront seniors' facility."
