THE NORTHERN Health Authority is spending $1.6 million to improve the quality of life and to improve safety in the original section of Terraceview Lodge.
A sprinkler system with new alarms is being installed and air conditioning is being put in at the city's care facility, says site coordinator Shannon Peden.
“We're all pretty excited. We've been waiting a long time,” said Peden of the work which will take until late spring.
Staff members and others have had air conditioning on their priority list for years and a sprinkler system follows on changes to the building code regulations, she added.
But Peden's particularly excited about another part of the work underway – doubling the size and updating the dining room used by the more than two dozen people living in Terraceview's Copper community, the residential area for those suffering from dementia.
The Copper community area is located in the east wing of the original building.
“This is really going to improve their environment,” said Peden.
A staff room is being eliminated to enlarge the dining area, windows are being installed to bring in natural light and an outside patio area is being built.
Terraceview Lodge is licensed for 95 people in the original section and in an addition finished just several years ago on the eastern side of the parking lot. It can house 44 people.
As people were moving into the new section renovations were going on in what had been an extended care section on the western edge of the parking lot.
That now houses a day activity program for adults, a treatment room and office for a physiotherapist, a bathing area and an office, an area for a nurse who specializes in wound care and a dentist.
Money for the work comes from the provincial government.