The Ken Sargent House

Grande Prairie mother Dale Bond is the proud parent of her daughter Cameron. But when Cameron was just 11 months old, she suddenly became very ill. Cameron required immediate specialized treatment – treatment that was only available in Edmonton.

“Cameron was admitted to intensive care in a pediatric unit,” says Dale, “And then she required ongoing treatment after she was moved out of intensive care. We were there for six months, the first time around…”

Just imagine: your child is sick, and not only do you have to drive for over four hours to get her the life-saving care she needs, you then need to stay by her side for half a year. Where do you stay? At a nightly rate of $185¹, a hotel in 2024 would cost over $30,000 for a six-month stay.

But thankfully, there was an alternative for Dale and her family: a long-term residential facility for families and patients, which offers the same style and level of support that the Ken Sargent House will provide. Dale soon moved into this facility while Cameron continued to receive treatment. “We stayed there for four months. We spent about the first 50 days [of Cameron’s treatment] sleeping in hospital waiting rooms, sleeping in the ICU. We had a perfectly good hotel room across the street from the hospital, but we didn’t stay there a single night, and then finally, when you realize…”

What did the residential facility offer Dale? “I just needed… I needed something, right? So we walked in the doors [of the facility] and it was like someone that was there just to care for you as a caregiver. So I think that was the biggest thing. You’re just so busy caring for your sick child. The medical staff at the hospital are there to help the sick person heal, and this whole time, you don’t really realize that you need to be cared for, too.”

Another thing that was important was the sense of community that develops in a shared living space like a long-term residential facility. “So you have your own personal space,” explains Dale, “And there was community groups that came in and fed you, and then there were other families. You [and the other families] become…” She stops to think how best to express the unique relationships that form. “Finally, someone who’s going through the same thing as me, no matter how different your journeys are. There’s someone else there to talk to who understands the highs and the lows and the language and all of it.”