Cerebral Palsy Association of Alberta making its space more accessible

The Life Without Limits Abilities Centre in southeast Calgary is very much a construction zone. The main floor of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Alberta's facility was totally demolished inside and after a year into the $450,000 project, its weeks away from completion.

"With COVID and work from home and programs online, we felt it was a great opportunity without displacing anybody," said Joanne Dorn, executive director of the association. "It has taken a little longer due to certain situations but you know, we're almost finished our main floor and we're very much looking forward to the upper level renovations in the near future."

Those second level renovations are made possible through a $90,000 grant from the Canada Community Revitalization Fund. Cindy Turnquist is the association's director of development and communications and says the money will go towards new flooring, wider doorways, an accessible kitchen, upgraded washrooms and better lighting for the visually impaired.

"I think it's going to be huge for our clients," said Turnquist. "Because it's really going to provide an inclusive space that they can go to and it's going to open up a whole new world of opportunities that they can move throughout the building freely and enjoy it properly."

TOTALLY DIFFERENT SPACE

Scott Haughn's company Eikon Construction has done the majority of the work at the centre and says it's a totally different space with glass partitions and much wider hallways. Newly installed 'wave sensor' switches allow people to open doors without having to touch anything. He's also impressed by a new device inside the new main floor washroom.

"It is an adult accessible change table," said Haughn. "It's electronic, does lift and lower to linear actuator, it's pretty impressive equipment for what it does, it lifts a tremendous amount of weight."

The main floor renovation is expected to be finished in a few weeks and the second floor is still waiting on building permits, but its hoped work will be complete by August.

Clients are beginning to return to the facility for its music and art programs.

"It's been so great to see everybody come back and just the smiles on their faces has made all of the work and the mess that we've had to go through for these renovations worthwhile," said Turnquist.

Learn more about the association here: www.cpalberta.com