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Province crafting plans for Michener residents

The provincial government is anticipating a good number of residents from Michener Centre will be moved to their former hometowns or places where their families or guardians now live.

The provincial government is anticipating a good number of residents from Michener Centre will be moved to their former hometowns or places where their families or guardians now live.

Red Deer North MLA Mary Anne Jablonski said on Thursday that the province is working on plans for where the 125 residents will live.

The government announced in March that the long-serving residential dwellings for people with development disabilities will close and that 125 residents from there will be relocated, starting in September. A target is to have all moved out by January 2014. Another 105 already live in Michener Hill group homes and will stay.

Jablonski said that 50 seniors will be relocated to hometowns or where their families or guardians choose. Twelve will be going home to Calgary, where there is space, including Graduated Supports run by Persons with Developmental Disabilities. Families will be consulted in each case.

The remaining 63 will be moved according to families wishes. A total of $10 million has also been set aside so that group homes or community agencies can build housing for Michener residents.

That renovated or new housing could be in Red Deer, said Jablonski.

“Getting them back to their home communities in good, safe and comfortable group homes is also an advantage for families,” added Jablonski.

Bill Lough, president of the Society of Parents and Friends of Michener Services, doubted that this move will be good for anyone.

He said the average age of residents within Michener Centre is 60 and so the 50 people who Jablonski said are being relocated are very elderly and medically fragile. This group has had the same caregivers for years.

Building new group homes or renovating new ones just doesn’t make sense, he added, since they could be a couple of blocks from where Michener is found.

Lough said moving these residents anywhere from Michener is debatable due to the care that they may receive.

“I don’t think the hospitals or the long-term care facilities are prepared for this extent of care,” said Lough. “This is a game of optics. Government says they have no problem handling it ... we have very severe doubts that the level of care can be duplicated.”

He said he’s spoken with service providers in Calgary and Red Deer and they do not have any residents similar to those at Michener.

Lough anticipates that the government has plans to move everyone out of Michener, particularly when it reneged on a 2008 promise to keep the residents there until they die.

A petition calling for the reversal of the government’s decision has so far gathered just under 2,000 names.

Jablonski said there’s no minimum number of signatures required on the petition, but it must be valid in order to be presented in the legislature.

“If you want to split hairs on this ... it’s a matter of expressing a voice,” said Lough, adding the key is that the government knows how many are against the closure.

As well, the City of Red Deer is negotiating with the province over keeping the lease on Michener Centre swimming pool. The contract ended March 31, but has been extended.

Shelley Gagnon, manager of Red Deer Recreation, Parks and Culture, said it’s expected the two parties will come to a agreement.

ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com