After six years of planning and fundraising, this week’s ground-breaking for the Good Life Fitness Family Autism Hub on Sea Island, next to BCIT, is offering parents of autistic children hope their offspring will eventually live life with a degree of independence.
The first of its kind in the province, the hub, which has a price tag of $28 million — the province has provided a grant of $20 million — will house within its 58,000-square-foot confines a one-stop centre for research and support for children, adults and seniors with autism spectrum disorder. It’s a growing community.
According to the Pacific Autism Family Centre Foundation, ASD occurs in approximately one in every 68 births, and may appear during the first three years of life. It is four to five times more common in boys than girls — affecting one in every 42 boys — and is the most common neurological disorder in children.
Given the one in 68 prevalence rate, it is estimated that there are approximately 69,000 people affected by ASD in B.C.
The Good Life Fitness Family Autism Hub received a boost in funding at its Dec. 16 ground-breaking ceremony as David Patchell-Evans, the husband of Canadian Olympic rower Silken Laumann, and founder and CEO of Good Life Fitness, one of the largest, privately owned chain of fitness gyms in the industry gifted $5 million.
Patchell-Evans, known as “Patch,” said fitness has been his passion for more than three decades — he was a multiple Canadian rowing champion.
But the main source of his involvement with the hub is his daughter, Kilee, who has been affected by autism.
“I’ve always felt I had some control over the outcomes. What I have not chosen, and at many times have felt overwhelmed by, is the devastation of being a father with a daughter who has been profoundly affected by autism,” he told the large group gathered for the ground-breaking.
“When my little girl was diagnosed, help was virtually non-existent.
“Today, I have hope. Today, I have hope that parents can get reliable information; that children will be screened at an early age, not waiting years for a diagnosis,” he said.
“Hope, thanks to the strides being made by research, including our own Kilee Patchell-Evans Autism Research Group.
“So, while autism has been the greatest challenge in my life, the place where at times I felt powerless, I have learned that I can help. I can contribute and I can share my journey.”
Scheduled to open by spring, 2016, the hub will be an information and support centre, working with a series of up to eight satellite facilities across the province, said Terry McKay, project director for the facility.
That is planned to be partially run by ACT (Autism Community Training), a provincially funded program.
But what will be new to the realm of autism support is a lifespan centre, which will focus on adults identified on the autism spectrum.
“Assistance will include developing skills in finding work in the labour market, and we will be looking at some potential partners in that,” McKay said.
