New health-care and supportive housing facility planned for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
CBC
A new health-care and housing facility is being planned for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood in hopes it can fill a much-needed gap in care for those living without a home.
The Lily Lee Health Centre, located at 58 West Hastings St., will act as an integrated health-care centre run by Vancouver Coastal Health, and will include 230 housing units — both desperately needed in the area.
Lily Lee, the centre's namesake, was born and raised in Alert Bay, a village on Cormorant Island, on northeast Vancouver Island.
She left home at 16 to attend the University of British Columbia, where she studied to become a nurse, and ultimately became a public health nurse in the Downtown Eastside and its surrounding areas.
"Back then it was … simpler," the 87-year-old told On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko.
She said there wasn't a toxic drug crisis at the time.
"It was relatively simple and fairly safe too."
Since then, the Downtown Eastside has become home to many who live with mental illness and addiction, many of whom also live on the street.
Lee and her late husband, Robert, both prominent philanthropists in Vancouver, have another health centre named after them on East Broadway.
Lee donated $3.8 million toward the Lily Lee Health Centre through the Chinatown Foundation, a non-profit aimed at revitalizing Vancouver's Chinatown, which is next door to the Downtown Eastside.
"I would like to help anybody who needs a little help, especially in the health department," she said.
"So to be able to do this was a big thrill for me, because I thought what a wonderful way to help the community with a bit of money that I have."
Carol Lee, chair of the Chinatown Foundation and Lee's daughter, said her mother has always believed that those she worked with on the Downtown Eastside are "good people that need a little bit of help."
"I think that's a wonderful way to look at it," she said.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.