Groundbreaking time for Wood's Homes!

Sod-turning marks major milestone for agency

Wood's Homes deepened its strong roots in the community April 30 as more than 125 people gathered on the Parkdale campus to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Tuer Children's Mental Health Centre.

Children in yellow construction hats, armed with bright red shovels, lined up with dignitaries including building namesake David Tuer, chair of the board of the Calgary Health Region, to kick off construction of the $5.6-million, 21,000 square-foot building. Work on the three-storey structure, scheduled to open next summer, begins May 5.

The enlarged facility at Parkdale will result in increased clinical space for direct service to the community, children, and families, as well as house the support services necessary to enhance quality delivery. In addition it will provide a training facility for the many professionals working both at Wood's Homes and in the community. It will provide these professionals expanded opportunities to learn and study intervention techniques with youth displaying complex mental health and behavioural challenges.

With demand for services up more than 400 per cent over the past decade, the health centre will allow the 30 programs and services offered by Wood's Homes to address the growing need in our community. The agency treats more than 450 children and families each day.

A crowd of funders, board members, media, staff and government officials - including Mayor Dave Bronconnier, Honourable Michael Kirby and Calgary Health Region CEO Jack Davis - gathered to hear tributes to Tuer for his long history of involvement with Wood's Homes and health care in Calgary.

"Thank you, David, for helping make this happen," said agency CEO Jane Matheson, who stated that suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people.

"He continues to be a strong supporter of Wood's Homes, and what we're doing. We are looking expectantly out to the future, and we can hardly wait."

Kirby said early intervention and awareness by parents and health-care providers is crucial to treating mental illness among children and adolescents. He praised the role the new centre will play in expanding Wood's Homes' important work with youth from across Canada, and said he hopes similar facilities will be built in other major cities.

"This is one of the best places in the country. It's extremely, extremely ... needed."

Kirby is a retired Liberal Senator, and current chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, which is headquartered in Calgary. As co-chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, he helped produce the first-ever national report on mental health, mental illness and addiction called Out of the Shadows at Last.

Kirby said David Tuer was instrumental in helping the Canadian Mental Health Commission establish its headquarters in Calgary in September, 2007.

With his wife, Linda and several family members at his side, Tuer said health providers are "terribly under-resourced in the treatment of mental health" due to shifting priorities, funding and community needs. Wood's Homes is a crucial part of the health-care continuum for families, he added.

"It's never lost sight of the fact that it's all about the children. It's because of that it's been relentless in its pursuit of excellence. This is a very humbling experience for me."

Wood's Homes Foundation chair Terry Cotton added: "This may very well be one of the most important development permits that has been issued in some time."

It was a very important and memorable day for Wood's Homes.