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Dementia living centre in Canmore opening in New Year

“One of the things I am most excited about is over 30 people are coming back home who had to leave the valley and go to Calgary and Cochrane and elsewhere to get the level of care that wasn’t here before."
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Construction on the new designated supportive living wing at Bow River Lodge breaks ground in 2020. RMO FILE PHOTO

BOW VALLEY – A long-awaited designated supportive living centre for seniors with dementia or advanced physical frailty is set to open in February.

The additional wing to Bow River Lodge in Canmore, expected to open Feb. 7, 2023, includes 30 memory care and 30 physical frailty suites with 24-hour nursing care and services.

Officials say Alberta Health Services (AHS) will determine admissions to the facility, but priority will be given to residents of the area.

“This has been a long time coming and marks a huge win for the people of the region,” said Ian Wilson, chief administrative officer of Bow Valley Regional Housing (BVRH), during a Banff council meeting on Dec. 12.

“One of the things I am most excited about is over 30 people are coming back home who had to leave the valley and go to Calgary and Cochrane and elsewhere to get the level of care that wasn’t here before.”

The facility expansion, which broke ground in 2020, has been more than a decade in the making. The province kicked in $16 million and BVRH provided about $2 million.

A housing needs analysis conducted by BVRH in 2018 identified a lack of spaces in the Bow Valley for this type of seniors housing, which requires increased supports such as 24-hour on-call nursing.

Banff Mayor Corrie DiManno said it was wonderful news to hear about the homecoming of 30 former Bow Valley residents to the new wing.

“That is such a gift and I am sure an answered prayer for them and their families,” she said.

“I really want to celebrate that story. It’s a really nice warm and fuzzy story.”

BVRH will handle the hospitality side of the designated living facility, while AHS and SE Health will be responsible for care.

Wilson said there are some challenges with hiring staff for the new facility, noting the No. 1 issue affecting the ability to attract employees is finding appropriate housing for staff.

He said BVRH needs to hire about 10 people for the new wing, which represents about a 20 per cent increase in its staffing model, for duties such as housekeeping, laundry and cooking.

“It’s significant to us, but I think we will be OK,” he said.

Wilson said the bigger staffing need is on the care side, noting SE Health is hiring registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and health care aides.

“They have, at last word, hired all the senior leadership and a number of nursing staff and now have to hire a bunch of people to be health care aides so it’s a real challenge,” he said.

“Will we have everyone on time to open on Feb. 7, which is our anticipated opening date, I’d like to think so, but we all know the realities of staffing in the valley, so it’s still a little up in the air.”

Meanwhile, following the COVID-19 pandemic, BVRH has many vacancies in its level 2 supportive living facilities, including the 21-unit Cascade House in Banff and the 63-unit Bow River Lodge in Canmore.

Wilson said he understands vacancy rates are roughly 20 to 25 per cent in lodges across the province since the pandemic.

“We currently have vacancies in our lodges and this is mostly due to the fact that COVID created a stigma around living in seniors housing,” he said.

“People associate seniors living often with some of the horrible things that we saw during the pandemic.”

BVRH kept COVID-19 out of the lodges until early in 2022 when public health measures were lifted.

By then, Wilson said 98 per cent of lodge residents were vaccinated and staff were fully vaccinated as well.

He said no one died from COVID-19 in BVRH’s facilities.

“A big part of our success in lodges over the past few years was our early and effective response to the emergence of the pandemic,” he said.

“At this point, roughly half of our lodge residents have actually experienced COVID, and by and large, it’s been non-symptomatic or a mild cold.”

Coun. Barb Pelham, who is a Banff council representative on BVRH, expressed gratitude for keeping seniors safe during the challenging times of the pandemic.

“To keep COVID out of our facilities for as long as you did is really remarkable,” she said.

Following a similar presentation to Canmore committee of the whole on Tuesday (Dec. 20), Mayor Sean Krausert thanked Wilson for all the work BVRH does.

"Bow Valley Regional Housing is an essential service in the Bow Valley and allows so many of our residents to age in place and for that, I know myself and council, are extremely grateful for the work that ou do," he said.

BVRH is a self-governing housing management body created by the provincial government to operate and administer provincially-owned housing assets and programs in the Bow Valley.

It has a $4.3 million operating budget this year, but that is expected to jump to $8.3 million in 2023 with the opening of the designated supportive living facility.

In addition to the lodges, BVRH also oversees Mount Edith House in Banff, with 34 self-contained apartment suites for low or moderate-income independent seniors, and Bow River Homes in Canmore, with 28 self-contained apartment suites.

The housing organization also is in charge of a 58-unit rental portfolio providing subsidized rental accommodation for low-income families who cannot afford private housing in the costly Bow Valley. There are eight townhouses in Cougar Creek, five houses in Cougar Creek, 30 townhouses at Woodlands and five houses in the Larch area.

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