50th Anniversary Allen Gray Creates Active Living Space for Senior Residents
by Mark Kandborg
O
n a chilly autumn evening in 1952, nine ambitious women dedicated to the cause of building a facility for the care of elderly women in our city, convened at the house of Mrs. Francis Winspear to make the pursuit of their common goal official. On that night, they formed the Gray House Guild, named after Edmonton’s first Anglican Bishop and well-loved humanitarian, Henry Allen Gray. It took a full 10 years of bake sales, fundraising teas and even the creation of a cookbook with recipes from Mrs. Winspear herself for these enterprising ladies to raise enough money to begin construction of the Allen Gray Auxiliary Hospital on a parcel of city-donated land. The donated land is on the banks of the Mill Creek Ravine. Fifty years later, as the waiting list for residency continued to grow, the decision was made to build a much larger version of the facility on its current location. The newly named Allen Gray Continuing Care Centre illustrates that many things do indeed get better with age. It’s an
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Marlene McMahon, HR Mngr.; Clara Ambard, C.E.O.; Sylvia Zurch, Receptionist; Charlotte McFadden, Director of Care.
impressive place. Clean and spacious, the facility’s capacity has more than doubled, growing from a mere 50 beds to 136 with an additional 15 lodge suites. As I tour the building, I have to keep reminding myself that I’m in a care facility. Every effort has been made to maintain the original Guild’s vision of a “friendly, home-like feeling.” In addition to the birds and fish that also call the centre home, each floor has its own resident cat, although Casper has been known to slip into an elevator and travel down a floor to steal some of Misty’s food on occasion. “We try to make it a community here,” says Clara Ambard, Allen Gray’s CEO of nearly 25 years, “and we have. Our goal is to integrate, not segregate.” Adding to the friendly air is the brilliant inclusion of a daycare right in the heart of Allen Gray. “It started as a place for children of the staff, but now the community uses it, too,” Ambard says. “At first some of the little ones were afraid of the residents, but now they’ve got lots of grandmas and grandpas.” At the end of my walkabout, a group of residents kindly took the time to visit with me. “I’ve had the pleasure of living here for nine years,” says Hester Hubbell, who’s known affectionately as ‘the ticket lady’ for her ability to sell just about anything to anyone, a nickname she’s earned as head of the fundraising committee. “I love it here. It’s like a 5-star hotel, that’s how I describe it. We’re human beings, not numbers. We come first.” Raymond Zenon Joly couldn’t agree more. “I love the people, staff and residents,” he says. “It’s very spacious. You can be quiet by yourself, or if you want to be busy with people, you can do that, too.” Stan Garrett, a former transit and tour bus driver, likes that he can keep busy. “There are lots of places to go, lots of things to do,
Allen Gray Continuing Care Centre | 50 years
As my time visiting with this delightful group comes to a close, Hester reminds Josephine of a promise to make cabbage rolls for them some day soon, adding slyly, “I know where you live.” The warm laughter shared by these happy residents would have made the women of the Allen Gray Guild proud.
Ray Joly, Josephine Ryley, Hester Hubbell and Stan Garrett.
games to play, everything you want. I get along with everybody here,” he says. “Even my wife.” Josephine Ryley sums Allen Gray up beautifully. “I walked in, and that was it,” she says. “Comfortable, nice and clean. I love pretty well everything. Entertainment, there’s lots of that. People come in all the time to sing or play. I especially like the Police Band.”
5005 – 28 Avenue N.W. Edmonton, Alberta T6L 7G1 Ph: (780) 469-2371 • Fax: (780) 465-2073 allengray.ab.ca
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