A $250-million new wellness community for Edmontonians is making a home in the city’s southeast.
The Covenant Wellness Community, run by Covenant Health, will be a community-based health and wellness hub that will address capacity pressures at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital, the needs of the city’s southeast community and the growing needs of Alberta’s senior population.
The community hub located in Mill Woods will include a health centre, multigenerational housing, an integrated seniors’ continuing care centre, surgical services or expansion space as needs are identified, and commercial buildings.
“We chose this location because the population of southeast Edmonton has nearly doubled in the last 20 years and with that growth has come a greater demand for health and wellness care,” said Patrick Dumelie, CEO of Covenant Health.
“Our Grey Nuns Community Hospital is a key health provider in the neighbourhood, and its emergency department is often used as the entry point to the health system. The Covenant wellness community is a creative approach for caring for southeast Edmontonians, relieving hospital pressures, and helping seniors to remain well as they age.”
Demolition of the existing southeast campus building will begin later this month to make space for custom-built structures that will go up in five phases. Dumelie said they plan to reuse 80 per cent of the original building’s materials for the project.
Phase one of the construction, which includes the health centre, is expected to begin this summer, and opens in early 2025. It will cost approximately $125 million.
“The multi-generational housing will make up the second phase of this project. There will be around 300 residential units including independent living and affordable housing that will welcome people of all ages and backgrounds,” Dumelie said.
“We also plan to explore complementary services that support seniors to age with dignity and independence and easy access to the wellness support they need.”
Phase three will focus on the integrated seniors’ continuing care centre, while phases four and five will include enhanced community health center capacity, care expansion space, and commercial buildings which are yet to be determined.
The wellness community is being developed through a public-private partnership with Rohit Group of Companies. Excluding the final two phases, the project is estimated to cost $250 million.
Premier Jason Kenney said the wellness community is a “tremendous step forward” for health care in Alberta.
“This concept takes community living and dovetails it with health supports to bring Albertans comfort when it’s needed most,” Kenney said.
“Challenging the system, not the patient, to achieve the best health outcomes, sustainable solutions to address an aging population that’s growing exponentially each year, providing mental health supports to our most vulnerable citizens that don’t stigmatize or traumatize, challenging the very definition of quality care and service to others.”
He said the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that there needs to be more innovation to get “more bang for the enormous amount of money” put into the health-care system.
“It’s exactly innovative solutions, including public-private partnerships like Covenant is pioneering here, which I think is one way forward to get more service for more patients at lower cost to the taxpayer,” Kenney said.
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