Future Developments

Oki! With Siksika Health as the primary health and wellness service provider, for the Nation, we look to serve through a holistic, collaborative multi-service system connected and integrated with primary and secondary care, community health services, support, and rehab programs.

Vision:

Continuing Care in Siksika Nation will serve the community for generations to come by supporting those living in the community and facility-based care, as needed. Our continued commitment to community capacity building engages collaboratively with Siksika Nation members, Alberta Health Services and surrounding municipalities to support planning and design that embraces Siksika culture. The future of continuing care includes the transition of the residents of the existing Siksika Elder’s Lodge and expanded services so that Siksika elders, for the first time, will have access to long term care and designated assisted living, in their own community. The planning is led by a working group, serving to engage with the community while capturing the needs of a future design.

Our Elders are our knowledge holders, fluent speakers, and ceremonialists; each have their own particular strengths in these areas. As the elders are well taken care of by Siksika Continuing Care, so too will our sustainability of our future generations. This will benefit the whole Siksika community because this is the foundation of our future, our Elders. They are the key to preserving our identity. We need our Elders to help us educate our next generation of Elders and our people to keep the Siksika Way of Life.

Our priority is the Siksika Way of Life: our Elders are so important to sustaining our culture, language and way of life.

Location:

Western/central portion of Siksika Nation, approximately one-half (1/2) kilometre east of Secondary Road 547, and one kilometre south of Hwy 901. To the north of the site is new residential housing and to the immediate east is the Siksika Health & Wellness Centre.

Land Designation

Band Council Resolution: BCR #04-51

Land Designation

2024/25

Timeline

Design of the building will start summer 2023. Construction will start in the spring 2024 and will be complete by fall 2025.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is continuing care?

Following Alberta Health definitions,[1] Continuing Care services and the locations those services are available includes:

In Alberta, citizens have access to a range of continuing care services and supports depending on an individual’s health and personal care needs, and no matter their age, diagnosis, or the length of time they need support. Eligibility is based entirely on a professional assessment of a person’s unmet need for care. Continuing care services include assistance with dressing, eating, bathing, meal preparation, respite, wound care, medication administration, and various other health care and support services.

These continuing care services and supports may be provided in different settings, including:

individuals’ homes or other private residential settings, such as suites in a seniors’ lodge or supportive living facility;
community-based service locations, such as adult day programs; and
residential care facilities which include “designated” supportive living and long-term care.

Supportive living is a type of continuing care accommodation, where people can remain as independent as possible in a home-like setting while they have access to services that meet their changing needs. Supportive living accommodations vary by size, appearance, and the types of services offered and can include seniors’ lodges, group homes for individuals with developmental disabilities, and “designated” supportive living accommodations.

In “designated” supportive living accommodation residents receive 24-hour on-site, scheduled, and unscheduled personal care and support services from health care aides and/or licensed practical nurses. Each supportive living accommodation is different. Operators set their own rent prices and determine what services they will offer, and some may not offer the services you want or need.

Long-term care is a type of continuing care accommodation for people with complex medical needs who are unable to remain safely at home or in a supportive living accommodation. Long‑term care is provided in, what historically has been called, nursing homes and auxiliary hospitals, both of which may be referred to as “long-term care facilities”.

In long-term care, residents receive accommodation, meals, and access to 24-hour on-site professional nursing and personal care. Case management, professional nursing, rehabilitation therapy, and other consultative services are provided on-site by facility staff. Long-term care health care services are publicly funded, and facilities are operated either directly by Alberta Health Services or by contracted care providers.

Siksika’s new Continuing Care Centre will include all of these levels.

[1] Alberta – Continuing Care Overview. Alberta Health Continuing Care Division. https://www.alberta.ca/about-continuing-care.aspx

What is Adult Day Support?

Adult Day Support Programs are designed for adults over the age of 18 who may have physical and/or memory challenges or are living with a chronic illness. Adult Day Support Programs play a key role in allowing people to remain living in the community as long as possible by optimizing their level of physical, spiritual, social, and emotional function. Adult Day Support Programs also provide respite and education for caregivers.

Has a design concept for the Siksika Continuing Care Centre already been developed? What was the process?

A Siksika Continuing Care Business Case Working Group was established to guide process. A needs assessment wss completed by Siksika Health Services in collaboration with Alberta Health Services (AHS), and Architectural guidance was provided by Kasian Architecture to ensure the grant application met the requirements. Kasian Architecture have experience with seniors housing and continuing care design and construction in Alberta, BC, and Ontario.

Community engagement sessions for information sharing occurred in 2021 as follows, input:

June 28, 2021 @ Siksika Piiksapi Memorial Arbor
August 16, 2021 @ Siksika Piiksapi Memorial Arbor
October 4, 2021 via Zoom (virtual attendance)

Siksika Health Services worked with the Siksika Chief & Council to ensure the required land use designation was confirmed with a Band Council Resolution (BCR).

Siksika Health Services staff worked with the architectural specialists to draft a site plan based on community input from the engagement sessions that also addesses accessibility, resources requirements, and architectural design requirements.

With these components in place a capital grant funding application was submitted to Alberta Health.

Where will the Siksika Continuing Care Centre be built?

The approved continuing care centre will be built just west of the Siksika Health & Wellness Centre. A land blessing and ground-breaking ceremony took place in fall 2022, prior to site preparation beginning.

Where is the money for this project coming from?

Siksika Nation received $11,298,280 in capital funding from Alberta Health through the Alberta Annual Continuing Care Capital Grant Program for First Nations, Metis, and other Indigenous Servicing Organizations.

34 continuing care spaces will be built to serve members of Siksika community. Funds to operate the 34 continuing care spaces will be provided through a separate multi-year operating grant to be finalized and approved.

In addition, 8 supportive / independent living spaces are being considered, along with an adult day support program, separate from the above Alberta Health funding.

How do I access Siksika Continuing Care?

A process for accessing the new Siksika Continuing Care will be established with the opening of the centre. We are not pre-booking individuals currently. If you are living in the community and need care services today, you can begin by calling Siksika Home Care at 403-734-5695 to arrange for a health assessment. If you need facility-based care today, please contact Siksika Elders Lodge at 403-734-5720.

When will the Siksika Continuing Care Centre be open?

The development process has begun, and we anticipate an approximate 2.5 year (30 months) timeline for design and construction.

Creating community and bringing people together around common experiences will sustain the Siksika Health Campus, designed through research/analysis and master planning.

A master plan provides a critical road map, with a long-term view, for the transformation of community environments to better serve the people. The vision reflects the values and needs of the Nation through community engagement.

The landscape is changing, demand is increasing, and needs are becoming more complex. With more complex health needs, the services for chronic medical conditions need to be accessible, for all ages. To respond to the needs of Nation members, planning must consider cultural protocols and best practices, grounded in Siksika culture, creating a space of belonging to deliver interconnected services and the facilitation of partnership initiatives to improve health outcomes.

August 2024 Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning has joined with Siksika Health Services to realize the vision of a master planned Health Campus. Katherine Robinson, Architect and Principal said, “we are honoured to collaborate with Siksika Nation to help achieve its vision of enhancing access to quality healthcare while promoting community wellness and healing within a campus that respects cultural traditions and community values and is planned for resiliency”.

A health campus plan is being designed, with a focus on healing, well-being, and resilience for Siksika Nation and neighbouring communities. The master plan for the health campus will include elements such as physical buildings, public spaces, and interconnections, all grounded in the overall vision, and informing a process of thought, action and decision-making that will prepare Siksika Health Services for infrastructure (capital) readiness.

Location:

The Siksika Health Campus is proposed for the area east, south, and west within proximity to the current Siksika Health and Wellness Centre with interconnected services throughout the health campus.

Land Designation:

Underway during master planning

Timeframe:

2024/2025 (Master Plan)

Our Vision with the Siksika Health Campus is to see culture as innovation in transforming the design of health & wellness delivery

Vision:

Reimagined and Revitalized with Culture Innovating Design
HOPE Park, with a focus on culture as our inspiration for ideas and innovation, will be reimagined to bring optimism to our future. As a central park, the HOPE Park will better meet the needs of individuals of all ages, a gathering place of open green areas for family and friends and community. Grounded in Siksika Nation history and woven by Blackfoot / Siksika art, the re-envisioned and revitalized HOPE Park will include tipis, gardens, recreational spaces, and elements of traditional landscape that will provide healing and learning for the community.

Location:

(formerly the Siksika Nation Administration Park (“Admin Park”)) – near the centre of Siksika Nation,on Highway 547, across from the Siksika Tribal Administration Office.

Timeframe:

2023/24