Christie’s Biscuits building gets repackaged

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This article was published 09/06/2016 (3408 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It may say “Christie’s Biscuits” on top of the building, but don’t be fooled: helping children living with special needs is what is being baked there these days.

The province’s new Specialized Services for Children and Youth Centre at 1155 Notre Dame Ave. is in its first few weeks of offering therapy, equipment and care for children from birth to 21 years old.

The concept is to offer families the ability to have all their appointments during a single visit, says Cheryl Susinski, executive director of the Rehabilitation Centre for Children, one of the major service providers in the building.

“We’ve tried to bring together multiple service providers around the family to provide unified services for families,” Susinski said on Thursday during a tour of the renovated building.

“All of the services in this building were at different locations. This is certainly more efficient from a service-delivery view.”

The SSCY concept was initially sparked when organizers learned the Rehabilitation Centre for Children, housed in the former Shriners Hospital on Wellington Crescent, had to move due to riverbank erosion. A garage on the site, which used to offer accommodations to families from out of the city on its second floor, was closed a few years ago because its foundation had become unstable.

Ground was broken on the 93,000-square-foot building in May 2012, and organizers had expected to be open in 2014; however, delays pushed its opening date back to May 2016.

Besides the Rehabilitation Centre for Children, the SSCY Centre also has on-site Community Respite Service Inc., the province’s Department of Family Services’ autism outreach team, child-care behaviour support services, and Children’s disability Services, as well as parts of the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities and St. Amant.

It also houses a daycare, the Robertson Early Enrichment Program, which will care for area children along with babies and preschool kids living with special needs.

The centre is expected to welcome up to 70,000 children annually.

No parents taking children to appointments agreed to be interviewed on Thursday, but Harry Fehr, of Fresh Projects — the construction firm which renovated and built SSCY — said he has seen how they react to the central waiting area. Called Central Park, it features a waterfall, large foam objects to climb on and a computer image of an aquarium on the floor that moves and makes sounds when you touch it.

“The children (lie) on the floor and I see little kids who can barely crawl kissing the fish on the floor with great big smiles on their faces,” Fehr said.

“If we’ve spent any good money on health care, this is where it is.”

The building itself has 23 washrooms, most which have change tables that will work to assist youth up to age 21, including four with overhead lifts. There are also three accessible showers, including one in an accessible washroom so families can try out the features before installing them in homes.

Outside, there is an outdoor play space which has raised garden beds, a sand and water play area, talking tubes, wind chimes and drums.

Starting next week, families will be greeted at the door by a concierge who can arrange for parking and help move equipment to and from a vehicle.

Christine Schollenberg, executive director of the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation, which also moved to SSCY, said it has traditionally raised funds to support the RCC’s programs and children’s’ equipment needs. Now Schollenberg said they will need to raise more funds annually to support the extra entities in the building.

“We will even look for funding for the daycare if we get a request,” she said. “When it comes to children, everybody is so generous.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca