U of A unveils new housing for health retirement building in Leduc

The University of Alberta’s housing for health initiative unveiled a new retirement building in Leduc on Tuesday.

Aimed at encouraging a healthy lifestyle. Telford Mews is one of three pilot projects hoping to prove that building design, along with neighborhood amenities and planning, can improve the overall health of its residents.

“We’re trying to demonstrate all the things that you can do, really simply and a lot of times inexpensively, with signage, with gardening boxes, with just finishing up or painting the stairwell a different colour than your usual boring grey for example. So that they are more supportive of seniors being able to be active,” explained Dr. Karen Lee, director of Housing for Health.

For example, the stairwell at Telford Mews is brightly lit, with an invitation: “wanna feel better? Take the stairs!”. The building’s restaurant offers healthier food options, and a move in package provides maps that encourage walking to places like the nearby grocery store.

New retirement housing complex in Leduc. (Photo Credit: Bianca Millions, CityNews)

“I think there’s an interest in the private sector certainly, and in the public sector, to go away from acute care, medical care, highly expensive type of situations, and create things that are more attractive, more appealing, more preventative, and so this is really well, it’s very simple principles not often done,” said Greg Christenson, president of Christenson Communities.

It’s not just the building itself that’s promoting a healthier lifestyle. The U of A’s housing for health initiative recently released Canada’s new “healthy community guidelines”, providing advice on how to create entire communities and neighborhoods that point the public towards physical activity, healthy eating, and social connection.

“In Canada, healthcare costs are going through the roof. If you look at provincial budgets, the number one cause of rising budgets provincially is healthcare budgets. So although it’s very important that people are able to access care once they’re ill, we want to actually prevent them from getting sick in the first place,” said Dr. Lee.