Edmonton’s vets now have one-stop shop for services

EDMONTON Growing more and more frustrated as he worked to get a local veteran the help he needed, an Edmonton man knew something had to change with the way veteran services operates within the city.

“The thing is, not one of the services I was dealing with was bad, they were all doing good,” said Doug Styles, who volunteers as a driver for veterans. “It seemed like they all had a tentacle. They would get up to a certain point and then I had to start at another one.”

On Nov. 11, 2017, Styles cornered Edmonton-Riverview MLA Laurie Sigurdson, NDP minister of seniors and housing, at a local legion to tell her the government needed to address struggling veterans in the city.

“I expressed to (Sigurdson) the problems and frustrations of going through various organizations. They were all very helpful, but they only went so far,” said Styles.

On Friday, Styles was on hand to help cut the ribbon at the official opening of Edmonton Veterans Service Centre.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Styles. “There are many veterans out there who don’t know how to access services. Like me they probably got frustrated and said enough and they left it alone. Now they know they have a place they can come to.”

The centre at 12325 97 St. is funded by Veterans Affairs Canada and the provincial government and will serve as a one-stop shop for veterans looking to access services available to them. Those services range from financial, employment and training services to housing and crisis supports.

“If somebody comes in and they are in immediate need of food services, we can provide them with grocery cards. If they are in need of getting to a medical appointment, we’ve got bus tickets here on-site,” said Debbie Lowther, the chairwoman and co-founder of Vets Canada.

The centre is also the first of its kind in Canada to be able to offer housing alongside a service centre. One block away from the centre is an apartment building that can host 15 veterans in transitional housing.

“This is the first time that it has been done in the two parts,” said Lowther, “We can provide services in emergency housing so if the person is not ready to go into the transitional apartments we can house them somewhere else. If somebody comes in today, we can have them housed tonight.”

To date the centre has helped provide services to eight veterans.