The John McGivney Children's Centre and Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare have a new outdoor recreation area for all ages and abilities.
The land between the two facilities that was once a big open space has been turned into an accessible playground and outdoor fitness centre.
Play McGivney accessible Playground outside the John McGivney Children's Centre, September 5, 2017. (Photo by Maureen Revait)
"The whole playground area itself, while it's recreation, it's also therapy as well. It's therapeutic in that it can augment what's being done in therapy sessions, be it physiotherapy or occupational therapy for children," says JMCC CEO Elaine Whitmore.
Local playground designer Mark Jones says the space is completely unique.
"You've got a large teeter-totter, it can hold three to four wheelchairs on it and people can sit on the backs and teeter-totter back and forth. You get good movement on that. These are very different items that you won't find anywhere else on a playground," says Jones.
CEO for Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare Janice Kaffer says the outdoor equipment will be used for rehabilitation for senior patients. She says it will also be good therapy to interact with the children at the playground.
"There's a lot of evidence out there that speaks to putting seniors and children together. It benefits both the children because they get experience with the elderly people and seniors are able to do more when they're around kids and laughter is a wonderful medicine," says Kaffer.
The Liuna!625 Outdoor Recreation and Wellness Centre at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, September 5, 2017. (Photo by Maureen Revait)
Both the accessible playground and wellness area are open for public use.
The playground was made possible through donations from community partners. In Honour of the Ones We Love donated $200,000 of the $500,000 needed for the project. Liuna!625 donated $300,000 for the adult fitness side of the project.
