Burlington's third Community Wellness Hub opens at Bonnie Place

Burlington’s seniors have a new place to socalize, learn, exercise, and receive the care they need. 

Earlier this week, the city’s third Community Wellness Hub – located at Bonnie Place, 500 Claridge Rd. – opened on Tuesday afternoon. 

“The Community Wellness Hub is a way of delivering health, social, and housing care to seniors in a way that is more connected and coordinated,” Kathy Peters, executive director of the Burlington Ontario Health Team said. “It helps them age at home in a safe, quality way. But they’re also not living an isolated life.”

The other hubs are located at Wellington Terrace on John Street, and at 5250 Pinedale. 

As the hub is located in a non-profit affordable seniors housing facility, residents are able to get to the services they need quite easily. 

Programs the usual standard exercise routines, but extend as far as language classes. 

“At Pinedale, there’s a large community that speaks Arabic and Cantonese, and they wanted English as a second language classes,” Peters said. “We’re bringing in different programs based on the needs of the people.”

Bonnie Place was specifically chosen as the third location for a community hub because of the location, access to emergency services, and the potential likelihood of being impacted by social isolation. 

“We also take into consideration readiness from the housing and provider perspective, meaning there is space, resources and established partnerships that can be leveraged to support the Hub,” Adeeta Aulakh, project manager for Burlington Ontario Health Team wrote in an email.

The hub opening featured Ward 5 councillor Paul Sharman – who told a personal story about his mother, and the care she received at the end of her life, and about the differences between a community hub and an old age home. 

Workers have been studying how seniors can live their best lives with the help of others, to the degree that they want it. People spoke with Sharman about what works, and what doesn’t. 

“We learned we can work with people, and the community members themselves can work together to help each other have a better life,” Sharman said. “Central to our conversation was maintaining a high quality of life, having preventative care so we can stay away from the healthcare system.”

Sharman added there were more than 90,000 excess deaths during the pandemic because people who needed to go to the hospital couldn’t. Additionally, the amount of older adults in Canada will double in 20 years.