Walter Donald knows as well as anyone how much the Summit at Quadra Village is needed.
Donald regularly visits his brother at Oak Bay Lodge, one of the sites the new facility will replace, and sees how inadequate the aging site is for residential care. His brother has required care since suffering a stroke.
“Because I’m there every day, believe me, I know how important this new Summit at Quadra Village is for those who currently live at Oak Bay Lodge and Mount Tolmie Hospital, and those who aren’t there yet but will be,” Donald said. “Believe me, I know that the facilities we now have are totally inadequate for the task that they are supposed to be providing for.”
The residents there deserve better, he said.
Donald, a member of the Summit at Quadra Village design team, said the staff members at the existing sites care — and do their best in spite of the shortcomings.
He spoke Thursday at a groundbreaking ceremony for the project, an $86-million, 320-bed facility that will be built in the field at CDI College, which leases space in the former Blanshard Elementary School. The care facility is due for completion in the spring of 2019.
The project is designed to provide a “home-like environment” for seniors with complex-care needs and those with dementia, said Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins, vice-chairwoman of the Capital Region Hospital District.
“This new, purpose-built residential facility will become home for residents and their families from across the capital region,” she said at the ceremony. “Not only will the building provide living accommodation for 320 residents, but it will also include daycare programs for seniors who are still able to live at home but need access to other programs to keep them active both mentally and physically.”
Desjardins said the new facility will be divided up into 14 residential areas ‘’all designed with a flow that helps staff, families and residents feel like they’re part of a neighbourhood.
“Plus the building will be surrounded by extensive landscape and common areas such as walking paths and gardens for residents, their families and the community to play.”
There will also be a central courtyard.
Every resident will have a private room with an ensuite bathroom, she said.
People want to remain independent as long as they can, but there can come a time when they are unable to live safely at home, said Darryl Plecas, B.C.’s parliamentary secretary for seniors. Residential care like that provided at the Summit at Quadra Village has nurses available 24/7, he said.
“Residential care also provides personal-care assistance and hospitality services, such as meals, emergency services, housekeeping, and social and recreational programs.”
The need for such facilities is growing in B.C., Plecas said. “We have some three-quarters of a million people in B.C. now over the age of 75. That will grow to 1.4 million by the year 2030, so there’s lots to do.
“We need to be ready for the health-care change that is taking place around B.C. as a result of significant shifts we are facing, and in particular with respect to demographics.”
Island Health board chairman Don Hubbard said residents of the facility will be looked after by close to 260 health-care professionals and support workers.
The project is a co-operative effort involving Island Health and the hospital district. The hospital district will own the property and the building while Island Health will provide services under terms of a 25-year lease.
Sale of the former elementary-school site by the Greater Victoria school district to the hospital district was finalized this year.
People living in the area have been following the project closely, said Kelly Greenwell, director of the Downtown Blanshard Advisory Committee, which runs the Quadra Village Community Centre. He said it can be a good development if it’s done properly and includes some common space for the public.
“We’d like to see something integrated into this facility that’s meaningful, healthy recreational space that could be accessed by residents, families and folks in the neighbourhood, as well,” he said. “We think there’s a real benefit to the folks in facilities seeing kids playing, families picnicking, kids playing ball hockey, those kinds of things going on around them.”
