Jasper Place Wellness Centre breaks ground on new "Bridge Healing" facilities
Jasper Place Wellness Centre broke ground Friday on two new outpatient support facilities in the Parkdale area for recently discharged homeless hospital patients.
The new facilities are part of the 'Bridge Healing' program that offers housing and support services to homeless patients discharged from hospitals, the City of Edmonton said in a Friday news release. The buildings will offer 24 private suites for homeless patients, based on similar full-capacity facilities in Glenwood that host 36 guests.
The 'Bridge Healing' program also gives homeless patients access to a wide spectrum of support services, like gaining life skills, getting personal identification, and securing permanent housing.
'This is a bold and innovative program that will help some of our city's most vulnerable residents,' said Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti in the release. Francescutti is an emergency room physician who helped develop the 'Bridge Healing' model.
'Now we have to continue working hard on perfecting the model so it meets every patient's needs.'
The buildings are being constructed on a stretch of land from 81 Street and 115 Avenue NW to the Jasper Place Wellness Centre on 89 Street and 118 Avenue, bought from the city for one dollar. The sale included a grant for up to $900,000 from the Housing Accelerator Fund and a partnership between the Jasper Place Wellness Centre and the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation.
'This is truly a community effort to help house more people experiencing houselessness in our city,' said Mayor Amarjeet Sohi in the release.
'These initiatives give me hope, because this is about everyone across our community — the private sector, the non-profit sector and multiple orders of government — working together to make Edmonton more compassionate and equitable. That's how we build an Edmonton for all of us.'
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Any supplier who has an issue should complain through the appropriate channel. 'In our view, the current code has already effectively set the 'rules of engagement' with suppliers. We regularly survey our suppliers to ensure we are working as partners, listening, and constantly improving.' Australian-owned Woolworths NZ, which has more than 185 stores and also franchises 70 SuperValue and FreshChoice stores, has mostly taken a more conciliatory approach. Interim managing director Pieter de Wet says wholesale is a new and fast-evolving area for the company. 'In just three years we've developed a business which provides grocery products to more than 100 retail sites and we have over 60 customers using our service to provide more choices for shoppers,' he says. 'We're working closely with suppliers and wholesale customers.' Both chains say they'll take time to read the draft documents issued by the Commerce Commission in detail, and promise to work constructively with the commission through the submission process.
