Several factors involved in Veiner Centre reopen

By GILLIAN SLADE on June 12, 2020.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade

There are many aspects that the city will have to consider when it comes to reopening the Veiner Centre after the COVID-19 lockdown.

Not only is the Veiner Centre a place for seniors to congregate, it offers a range of services and activities that fall under different categories of the province’s relaunch guidelines.

The Veiner Centre includes a restaurant, a gym at Strathcona Centre, there is a billiards room and the location is a key place in town to play bridge or cribbage.

“Our seniors centre offers a diverse range of activities. We need to consider each activity separately as well as the overall operation of the building before we can determine when activity might safely resume and if a phased approach is necessary or practical,” said Leah Prestayko, general manager community development for the city.

She says the health and safety of staff and visitors is paramount and the guidelines provided by the province are key to achieving this.

The guidance documents currently available provide an overview of expectations for a seniors’ centre. The casino document talks about table games, the indoor entertainment recreation document talks about billiards and another deals with restaurants. Not all fall into the category of being safe to operate yet.

“We are anticipating the release of guidance specific to senior serving organizations. Once we have that, planning can begin in earnest,” said Prestayko.

She says it would likely not work well to open one part on the centre only. It would likely be better to wait until it can re-open as a whole.

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