WEQUEDONG LODGE OPENS ITS DOORS TO FIRST CLIENTS
By Sherry Aalto
Wequedong Lodge, in its new location, at 435 Balmoral Avenue, opened it doors today, Wednesday, March 21 2012, welcoming its first clients. Executive Director, Charles Morris, (since March, 1999),along with the Board of Directors, share in the realization of their long time
commitment for the new boarding home facility that provides accommodations and support services to members of Northwestern Ontario First Nation communities for accessing health care services in Thunder Bay.
Wequedong Lodge became incorporated in January 1984, commenced lodging operations in 1985 and caters to medical service clients from isolated fly-in communities, predominately from the Sioux Look Out Zone. Geographically speaking, over half of the area of Ontario does not have
serviceable roads. Wequedong Lodge has been around for twenty-six or twenty-seven years now as a small, non-profit corporation, which abides by 'for-profit' business ethical practices that financially sustains the corporation. The corporation is "A" political, which means that the
corporation does not belong to any Aboriginal entity or political organization. The executive director and the board of directors, has managed to succeed in this endeavour by exercising their individual administrative assemblance strategies and expertise in order to maintain the financial viability of the corporation.
The strategic planning for the new building commenced back in 2001, that's when they, (the board), developed their initial five year strategic plan which was subsequently renewed in 2006. Both plans identified two priorities. The first priority was to have a single, stand alone building that provided adequate occupancy. The second priority to follow on the heels once the first priority was achieved, was to introduce program diversification. For the past fifteen years, the lodge has solely dealt with only medical service clientele but now, is preparing to expand into other realms of service. Readily identified was clients with 'in-stage' illnesses, which include cancer, renal failure and other debilitating illnesses.
Following the renewal of Wequedong Lodge’s Strategic Plan in 2006, a Feasibility Study was subsequently conducted in 2007 to determine if the corporation could embark upon a single building project. The findings were conclusive for the corporation to proceed. A Project
Manager was hired in January 2009 to begin the search for capital funding for the building. By the end of the 2010 calendar year the corporation was able to secure four million dollars in seed money to begin the project that was estimated to cost eight and half million dollars. The building design contract was awarded to Habib Architects in the fall of 2010. Correspondingly, Gord Wickham of Wickham and Associates was also hired to oversee the project on behalf of Wequedong Lodge. Construction for the project was awarded to Finnway General Contractor in January 2011 and construction commenced in March of 2011.The bridge for financing the remainder of the funds (4.3 million dollars) needed to complete the project was secured through the Credit Union Consortium of Ontario, which is an amalgamation of credit unions. The corporation will maintain its mini, 30 bed hostel at 750 MacDonell Street, as leased through MGM Electric. The administration offices will remain located at R.R. #4, 100 Anemki Drive, Suite 104, Thunder Bay Ontario.
The new lodge, which is totally self contained and handi-cap accessible, accommodates clientele occupancy of 110 beds (52 bedrooms) and is rated as a 'hotel facility', which makes the lodge attractive for resale if desired in the future. There are 46 front line employees, 10 housekeeping staff, 8 cooks, full time, on site maintenance manager, on site security and residential care worker for transporting and translation. The mandate is to provide accommodations, including meals,
translation, transportation (in-town) and also referral services for return travel, consisting of 3 referral clerks that work on the data base system, plus produce a stats report and contribution agreement report. The average stay for a client is three days, but for some clients, who are 'in-stage', their transition period is three months, at which time other forms of accommodations must be made for them in town and assistance with life skills and living in the city, which is a very short learning curve.
The average client load for a week was 140, which was very financially burdenous for the corporation, as the occupancy of only 40 beds was too little to accommodates such numbers. Clients had to be farmed out to motels and hotels all over the city which was quite expensive but now with the new lodge, Mr. Morris is very happy to be able to have everything under one roof and that lends way to more control over the finances. The sense of accomplishment in being able to offer improved services is a great thing for such a small organization and that is the number one gratification. All went well with everyone on the board in the planning and decision making during the entire project and because the corporation operates autonomously, free range in decision making for the project eliminated a lot of the red tape other projects encounter.
If you have 140 clients a week, for 52 weeks, that equals 7280 clients. That's a lot of people who are in need of medical services and have to deal with 'where to stay?' along with the worry of their condition, but now they don't have to trouble themselves over that any longer thanks to the expansion project of Wequedong Lodge.
Mr. Habib of Habib Architects, explains that, this is another example of how an existing building can get a new life. The existing structure, formerly a school, was built in a different time, with different materials and methods,which had low energy efficiencies and was deteriorating. The entire building envelope has been upgraded and a substantial new building has been added. A strong green colour was used to unify the exterior for a fresh new look. As in most reconstruction
projects, owners, designers and contractors had to overcome unknown challenges, keeping budgeting costs and time constraints in mind. Environmentally, more than fifty percent of the existing materials had been preserved, resulting in an enormous amount of savings. The new
facility is bright and well planned out, with all the latest in technological maintenance management applications for efficient operations and for the comfort of the clients and business operations
of the staff.
Be sure to watch for the Grand Opening coming soon, of the Wequedong Lodge and stop in to see this self contained, modern facility and just what it offers to those in need.WEQUEDONG LODGE OPENS ITS DOORS TO FIRST CLIENTS
