14 February 2024
Arlene Adamson, Silvera’s Chief Executive Officer, was recently selected by the Alberta Government to co-chair a review of Alberta’s Seniors Lodge Program.
Arlene, who is also president of the Alberta Seniors and Community Housing Association (ASCHA), will co-chair the panel with MLA for Leduc-Beaumont Brandon Lunty. The review panel also includes representatives from municipalities, social housing and seniors’ organizations.
In a release, the government stated that the seniors lodge review panel “will find ways to make the most of existing seniors lodge spaces and help seniors age in their communities.”
The Seniors Lodge Program is Alberta’s oldest affordable housing program for seniors and is especially important in rural communities. The review panel will look to make the most of existing spaces and help ensure seniors can age in their community. It will also provide an opportunity to smooth transitions between lodges and continuing care homes to ensure the needs of seniors will be met when they need to access more care.
The Seniors Lodge Program supports 10,850 lodge units in 149 lodges across Alberta, including eight lodges operated by Silvera. The program provides services to residents, including meals, laundry, housekeeping and recreational programming.
“The Seniors Lodge Program is a unique Alberta solution that plays a critical role in supporting seniors to live well in communities, and it will be even more important as the need for housing affordability and supports increases to serve our aging population well,” said Adamson.
“I am honoured to co-chair a review of this program, representing ASCHA’s members, to ensure that it meets the needs of seniors, communities and housing providers today and into the foreseeable future.”
In a letter to employees, Adamson discussed the importance and necessity of the panel.
“This will be milestone work for our province. An overhaul of the lodge program is long overdue. The last review of the program was in 2015 and very few recommendations were moved forward.
“Today there are many more challenges in operating the program, and we need to ensure the solutions we recommend will have major and lasting impact for us as operators, for the residents today but also for aging Albertans, for our workforce and for our buildings.
“I’m optimistic this time we will see significant reform and position the lodges to have a long and viable future. Once the lodge review is done, I expect we will see changes in our own operation to improve in all areas.”
For more information, check out the news conference announcing the panel.