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Vol. 13, No. 42, Wednesday August 15, 2018 www.LamontLeader.com
Andrew Seniors Lodge closing end of 2018 JOHN MATHER The Andrew Senior Citizens Lodge will be closed at the end of the year. With just eight residents living in the 24-unit facility, the Lamont County Housing Foundation announced the decision Aug. 10. “It was not an easy decision to make,” said Lamont County Housing Foundation chair Bill Skinner. “We’ve been trying to turn around the financial situation of the lodge for a couple of years.” “It’s been running a deficit for years,” he added. “Closure of the lodge was the last option we would consider.” The board finally exhausted all the options they could study to keep the lodge open, he said. The vacancy in the lodge continued to grow and finally with just a few residents left in the lodge, the board realized it was not a sustainable operation. He stated the board had reached out to other seniors’ housing foundations in the area including Edmonton to see if there were opportunities to take people on their waiting lists and house them on a temporary basis, but the interest wasn’t there. “Unfortunately people want to be located near the larger centres and they wish to have more ready access to services such as doctors, and hospitals. We weren’t able to offer that to them in Andrew.” “My main priority will be that the seniors who built this province get the care and support they need,” said Fort Saskatchewan Vegreville MLA Jessica Littlewood. “I’ll be reaching out to
those residents affected in the near future to help them with whatever they need during the transition.” There were safety concerns at the lodge because it doesn’t have a sprinkler system. Littlewood said the government had offered $100,000 to install fire sprinklers in the lodge if they could keep the
were informed of the decision in personal face-to-face meetings. The remaining residents are being offered spaces in other facilities operated by the Lamont County Housing Foundation. There are five seniors’ lodges within a 30-minute drive from Andrew including two operated by the Lamont Foundation.
No decision has been made with what will happen with the lodge once it is vacated. Its future will be the decision of Alberta Seniors Housing, the provincial body which own the lodge. The Lamont Foundation operated the lodge on their behalf. “The province will maintain ownership of the building, “ said Littlewood.
Andrew Seniors Lodge
facility open. That was part of an overall provincial program to put fire suppression systems in lodges across the province. It was not enough to sway the foundation’s decision for closure. The facility was running at a deficit of more than $300,000 per year and municipalities have indicated they were unable to continue contributing at an ever-increasing rate. Impacted residents and their families
Eleven staff are also affected by the closure. According to the foundation, they will be offered positions at other Lamont County Housing Foundation lodges in the area in accordance with their collective agreement with the Alberta Union of Public Employees. Littlewood added she would be monitoring that process to ensure that the workers were fairly treated through the transition and making sure their bargaining agreements were honoured.
“As is sometimes the case when buildings become available, there are community groups that may be looking for space. Meanwhile the building will be maintained and the grounds will be kept up. The non-profits will probably approach us, and I’d encouraged them to approach the department to share any ideas which might be coming forward.”