Youville Home is growing

Thanks to our generous donors, we're grateful to be supporting improvements at Covenant Health’s Youville Home in St. Albert to include the multipurpose and four-season greenhouse space, currently under construction.

With the support of community members like you, we met our goal to fully fund the expansion. Your contributions will mean residents have additional space for reflection, group activities, visiting space, and access to gardening and additional recreation therapy year-round when construction is complete.

Thank you for enhancing care in your community and helping ensure residents have space to live to their fullest capacity, active and connected at Youville Home.

Laughter & living

Youville Home is exactly that — a home, where the sounds of laughter and living fill the hallways. Residents and their families spend time together, visiting, playing games and enjoying activities that provide meaning and quality of life.

With the addition of the Sigis Daycare program, we have infused activities at Youville Home with the vibrancy of children, as they engage with residents, reading and singing, bringing a renewed sense of energy and excitement.

As the community of St. Albert continues to evolve and change over time, so does the community of people living at Youville Home. Residents range from adults in their 20s to more than 100 years of age, and their needs are broad and varied. That’s why we need your help. With the planned expansion, residents will have access to a range of therapies, year-round. The new flexible space will expand current programming and improve access to better enjoy the outdoors. Multigenerational activities such as a gardening club and baking programs will provide both residents and daycare children experiences that will give a renewed sense of purpose, well-being and increased happiness.

Cecilia Marion

Senior Director of Operations

Youville Home

The challenge of living space

Like any long-serving infrastructure, times have changed and the building needs to change with it.

An increased number of residents with wheelchairs and walkers means fewer people fit in spaces designed years ago when fewer residents required mobility aids.
Programming and therapies have evolved to feature music, art and gardening activities that require more and/or specialized spaces.
Adequate space in rooms allows for visitors, but doesn’t accommodate larger families.
Using the fireplace at the entrance as a lounge area presents risks for exit-seeking in residents suffering dementia and other ailments, not to mention the constant drafts from opening doors.

The opportunity to enhance quality of life

With your help, and with recent understanding of residents’ needs for a healthy and happy life, Youville Home is positioned to continue its history of service in the community.

We are excited by the opportunity to create a new amenity for the residents - something that will be a pleasant, positive part of day-to-day life at Youville Home.”

ONPA Architects

An anchor of the expansion is the year-round greenhouse space. Youville Home’s garden programming is based on research showing a link between access to plants and an increase in spiritual, mental and emotional well-being. Gardening and access to green spaces has many therapeutic benefits including:

it’s an enjoyable form of exercise that increases levels of physical activity and helps mobility and flexibility;
it encourages the use of motor skills, reduces stress levels and improves well-being and social interaction.

As an added benefit, it also increases the availability of fresh produce for residents.

With the increase in space, these programs will give residents a renewed sense of purpose, a way to express themselves, especially those with speech problems, it will give them control and just, really, make them happier...”

Recreation Asst. Don Noon

Planning space for more living

The goal is to create a place that is welcoming, comfortable, peaceful & cheerful. A space that is bright & open, that is inviting to residents, visitors & staff, and that fosters flexibility in its use. The design vision works with gentle, curving organic forms and generous glazing to provide natural light & views, and to encourage the feeling of a place that bridges inside & outside space.”

ONPA Architects

The 1000 sq. ft. expansion, situated just off the auditorium, will have large doors to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers. The space will allow for larger entertainment performances, resident gatherings and activity programming, including year-round gardening. When not being used for larger gatherings, the multipurpose space is designed to invite relaxation and reflection. It will be a warm and welcoming space for residents to receive visitors and socialize.

You can make a lasting impact

The therapeutic benefits of gardening are endless, enhancing the quality of life of our residents as they partake in the planting and harvesting of fresh vegetables and watching as flowers they’ve planted bloom.”

Cecilia Marion, Senior Director of Operations
Youville Home