With 1,200 residents in the institution for those with intellectual and physical disabilities along with staff and support workers, the local facility was a constant and regular hub of activity in those days as lives were lived in the massive, sprawling facility.
Then came 2012 and, with 207 residents remaining, the Saskatchewan Government announced that Valley View would be closing down and its residents moved to other facilities in the province.
Today, there are 16 people at Valley View Centre. And during the facility’s annual – and final – family picnic recently, a celebration of the facility was held that included the unveiling of an official monument in the Pine Grove Cemetery, where many VVC residents are buried.
“Our family group has always been very active here, and this is something they’ve spearheaded,” said Terry Hardy, project lead of the Valley View transition team. “They wanted something post-closure to act as a permanent monument to the Centre and its existence in Moose Jaw as a big part of the community, just an acknowledgement of the people who worked and lived here.
So an important part of the closure project was to get this done and get a permanent monument here recognizing the lives of all these people.”
Dignitaries on hand for the ceremony included Mayor Fraser Tolmie and the Saskatchewan Minister of Social Services Paul Merriman as well as many former residents and staff of VVC.
The monument was placed in the cemetery largely due to the fact the area has seen little use since the last burial in 1973 and those in charge felt some sort of reminder of life in the area was needed.
“I think the staff are really going to appreciate that their efforts have been recognized,” Hardy said. “Because the cemetery isn’t used anymore we thought it was the perfect site, it’s going to be maintained perpetually, so it’ll be nice to have that permanent monument there no matter what happens to the building here, whether it’s repurposed or whatever occurs. It’s an important part of the closure process.”
That process is well on track, added Hardy, with the final residents expected to be moved to their new homes in early fall at the latest.
“It’s July, August, September timelines and it’s according to their personal Centre plan,” he said.
“We have some criteria, they have to be ready, the receiving home has to be done, the agency operating it has to be ready, all the funding has to be in place and once all those things are secured we set dates and support the transition with the staff here.”
The entire transfer process has gone as well as could have hoped in Merriman’s assessment, especially when it comes the accommodations the residents are moving to. The homes, while naturally smaller, allow more intimate and close care with the comfort of the patients a top priority.
“It’s been very good,” Merriman said. “We’ve had a great group to work with here at Valley View, with the staff, with the families and certainly the participants that are here. We wanted to make sure it was done the correct way, the least disruptive to the clients as well. I think we’ve accomplished that with what we’ve heard from the families, that this was done in the right way.”
There were many concerns when the announcement was originally made, chief of which was how the residents – many of whom had lived at VVC the vast majority of their life – would be able to adjust to the move.
“There’s always a little bit of a fear of change,” Merriman said. “I was talking to one of the ladies here, her niece was here for 50 years. This is her home, this is her routine, this is a big, huge part of her life. So that’s why the houses we’re building across the province took that into consideration and we kept as many people from the Valley View family together as we could.”
In addition to new homes in Moose Jaw, residents have also moved to communities throughout the province, most recently to a brand new home that opened in Saskatoon.
That’s what made the final picnic that much more special – it was one last time for the now far-flung Valley View Centre family to gather and reminisce.
“We didn’t call it a reunion, but we’ve always had an annual family picnic, and it’s for the families,” Hardy said. “A lot of relationships occurred here, it was never about the building, it was about the client, and the people who are coming here today will remember their lives here whether they lived or worked here and share some stories.”
