MP Kellie Leitch (Minister of Status for Women), Deputy premier Rich Coleman, Olympian Silken Laumann, and GoodLife Fitness Founder David Patchell-Evans, were among those who took part in Tuesday afternoons groundbreaking on Sea Island of the new Pacific Autism Family Centre at the foot of Hudson Avenue.
image credit: Martin van den Hemel
As any parent of a child who has been diagnosed with autism knows, there are so many questions that just dont have answers.
At a groundbreaking ceremony on Sea Island Tuesday afternoon, work began on a $33 million Pacific Autism Family Centre project that hopes to provide parents with answers and support, their children with treatment and care, while others work on cutting-edge research into the developmental disorder that impacts typical brain growth.
Olympian Silken Laumann joined her husband, David Patchell-Evans, founder of GoodLife Fitness, at the event where they shared how autism has impacted their lives, through Patchell-Evans daughter Kilee.
Whether it has been obstacles in business or the challenge of living with rheumatoid arthritis, Ive always felt I had some control over the outcomes, Patchell-Evans said. What I have not chosen, and at many times have felt overwhelmed by, is the devastation of being a father with a daughter who has been profoundly affected by autism. When my little girl was diagnosed, help was virtually non-existent. Today, I have hope.
The new 58,000-square-foot building, when completed by early 2016, will house state-of-the-art research, information, learning, treatment and support systems. It was made possible in large part because of a $20 million provincial grant.
Patchell-Evans GoodLife Fitness made a $5 million donation to the construction of the new facility, which will now be called the GoodLife Fitness Autism Family Hub.
Today I have hope that parents can get reliable information, he said. That children will be screened at an early age, not waiting years for a diagnosis. Hope, thanks to the strides being made by research including our own Kilee Patchell-Evans Autism Research Group.
The facility will be open to children and families facing the challenges of autism and autism-related disorders including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, development disabilities and learning challenges.
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New autism centre to open in 2016