Social housing model ‘working’
Ambrose Place residents seeing drop in hospital stays, AHS says
In the two years since supportive housing facility Ambrose Place opened, Alberta Health Services has seen a drastic decrease in hospital stays by its residents.
“Our model is working and we’re building a stronger, healthier community because of it,” says the facility’s executive director, Carola Cunningham, in a news release.
Ambrose Place is a collaborative facility between Niginan Housing Ventures and Alberta Health Services at 9629 106 Ave. which provides homeless people and couples of indigenous descent with a culturally sensitive and safe environment. Residents of Ambrose Place are provided with supports to help reduce the risks of drug and alcohol use.
Alberta Health Services has collected data on some of the people prior to staying at Ambrose Place and after living there since it opened in 2014. The results showed that overall in-patient days have decreased by 81 per cent. The findings don’t stop there. The preliminary evaluation report also found that the number of overall in-patient acute days has dropped by 74 per cent and emergency room visits dropped by 45 per cent.
One concern did arise in the report. It shows an increase of 54 per cent in residents experiencing more cardiac arrest, shortness of breath, respiratory distress and chest pain. More data is planned on being collected in sharing circles led by residents in Ambrose Place. Among the findings of the report: 58 per cent decrease in number of in-patient admissions
81 per cent decrease in the number of overall in-patient days
74 per cent decrease in number of overall in-patient acute days
31 per cent decrease in the number of overall EMS events
68 per cent decrease in the number of noted addiction and mentalhealth related EMS events
54 per cent increase in the number of noted respiratory/cardiacrelated EMS events.