Ambulance base no longer part of Sacred Heart redevelopment

Construction is set to begin on the redevelopment of the former Sacred Heart School into a men's shelter and harm reduction hub, but the permanent ambulance base that was once part of the plans for the site have been scrapped.

“Originally we had planned on leaving the ambulance base at the location and layering it inside," said Mike Nadeau, chief administrative officer for the Sault Ste. Marie District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB), which is overseeing the project. "Once we started delving into it to work, we realized it needed to be a standalone facility under the building code and we couldn’t attach it into the Sacred Heart facility."

Once completed, the Sacred Heart facility will include 22 men's shelter beds and up to 22 transitional rooms.

Last week, the DSSAB announced a $10.2 million tender by local firm Ruscio Masonry and Construction Ltd. was awarded and Nadeau hopes construction can begin in the near future.

“Work is hopefully going to get started any day. We really need to get that project online," said Nadeau.

The Sacred Heart building at 721 Wellington St. E. was purchased in 2020 for $500,000. An end date for the project is still being worked out.

Previously, all land ambulances in the city of Sault Ste. Marie were dispatched from the fire hall on Old Garden River Road, but a temporary solution was finalized last week for some ambulances to be operated out of the fire station on Tancred Street in the city's downtown.

“We are moving two ambulances there to free up some space and it also gives us a better deployment plan and response times to some of the calls downtown,” said Nadeau.

Paramedic chief Kate Kirkham and her senior management team are expected to come up with a more permanent solution for a downtown paramedic base. 

“If it needs to be standalone, where should it be in an ideal world? That is what the chief and her senior management team are being tasked to come up with,” said Nadeau.

He hopes the Sacred Heart facility can come online in the near future now that a tender has been awarded. Currently, the DSSAB is using the Verdi Hall as a temporary men's shelter.

"There is anywhere from 35 to 40 people staying at the Verdi per night, so we know the need is there. It’s been increasing as a result of the pandemic," said Nadeau. “This project has to come online because it will offer shelter beds, but it will also offer transitional housing, as well. Just as important, it’s going to offer a significant number of services."

Those services will come from the community partners that once made up the Neighbourhood Resource Centre on Gore Street, including Algoma Public Health and the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), among others. Local physician Dr. Alan McLean has committed to offering service to patients out of a medical centre planned for the site.

“CMHA has harm reduction and peer support workers. Algoma Public Health has harm reduction strategy they were looking at providing out of there," said Nadeau. “All of the community partners at the former NRC have committed to having a presence at the new space once it comes online."

Nadeau said when the new shelter turns on its lights the DSSAB plans to stop using the Verdi Hall as a temporary shelter.

"Plans are always subject to change, but the plan was always to have that as a temporary shelter as this new facility was coming online,” he said.

Now that capital funding for the redevelopment of the site has been finalized, Nadeau said the DSSAB will work with its partners to come up with a final model for its operational funding.