The other day I was looking at the calendar and was shocked to realize that it was a year ago that we moved into our new home at Westwinds, the affordable living facility downtown that will allow many seniors to live in Squamish for years to come.
I looked back and realised what a fantastic journey this has been. In fact, I still remember the first boxes arrived from the old office site to the shiny new building on April 6, 2022.
Recently, all residents came together to cut a cake and celebrate one year of Westwinds. As many of you may know, this project has been a unique collaboration between three levels of government, the private sector and the Squamish Seniors Living Society. We are grateful to our development partner, Polygon Homes, which has managed to deliver a beautiful and well-constructed building that has exceeded our expectations. The community has also been very welcoming and we look forward to meeting the housing needs of seniors in Squamish and the region for years to come.
However, moving the entire Manor/Cedar complex to a new home was no small feat. The logistics of moving our residents and the contents of the complex was very complicated and not without mishap. On the second last day of the move, one of the sprinkler pipes in the Manor on the second floor was mistakenly damaged by a bed frame resulting in a major flood within minutes. The plans to move the last few units on the first floor the next day were suddenly pushed to being moved immediately.
This was a bit traumatic for some of the residents who were not quite prepared to leave in a moment’s notice. The movers also were not quite prepared to cram in a day’s worth of moving into a few hours. There was clear exhaustion on everyone’s face once the final unit was emptied that day. They got the job done, and the Manor had it’s final flood. We waited a few days before the community move-ins started. We needed to catch our breath before moving in 168 new units in the span of 6 weeks. This was a very hectic time but with teamwork and patience, we managed to get through and Westwinds have been fully occupied since June of 2022.
Laura Modray is the the executive director of Squamish Senior Living Society
