23-05-2025
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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