Photo Above: From left are, Hendrik Van Ryk (Chief Operations Officer - H&H Total Care Services), Karen Omelchuk (Interior Health Authority - Residential Health Services Administrator, North Okanagan), Stacey Marchand (Okanagan Indian Band), Ralph Rushworth (resident of The Hamlets), Cindy Stewart (Interior Health board of directors), Kim Magarvey (Director of Operations for The Hamlets at Vernon - H&H Total Care Services) and Andre Van Ryk (CEO - H&H Total Care Services).

January 17, 2018 marks the official date of opening The Hamlets at Vernon with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at our new residential nursing home in downtown Vernon.

From the inception of the concept that started with the Interior Health Authority (IHA) to now, it is truly amazing to think about all those involved to make The Hamlets at Vernon a reality.

“The Hamlets at Vernon is a great addition for the North Okanagan and its residents,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix. “The publicly-funded beds provide a safe, caring place for seniors living with dementia and other individuals requiring assistance with complex health issues.”

For two years, Vernon residents watched as the six-story building took shape. The urban-inspired design houses "85 publicly-funded and 15 private pay residential complex care beds, as well as 52 private pay, assisted living units."

“These additional beds will also help us reduce pressures in other health-care facilities in the area,” said IHA Board Chair Dr. Doug Cochrane. "Interior Health funds 5,836 residential care beds, providing 24/7 care and support to people with complex care needs, who are no longer able to live independently. This includes people who have been assessed as needing 24-hour professional nursing supervision and care that cannot be met in their home."

This is the 4^th large project that H&H has done with TriCity and it has presented us with many challenges, more than we expected. Looking back, we are very fortunate that everyone worked together to make this a reality. We'd like to thank the city of Vernon, IHA, our hard-working employees, and of course, our wonderful residents for their patience and ability to work through adversity. Also, big thanks goes to all the key tradespeople and consultants in particular: JM Architecture team, Radian, Krueger, Terracom and Guisti.

We could not complete this project alone and we would be remiss not to thank some key members of our team who have spent considerable amount of time getting everything ready for operations while troubleshooting all the unknowns. Specifically, we want to thank Stuart Gerber, Vic Klassen, our clinical expert Joanne Gillett, and our local management team lead by Kim Magarvey.

Now the real work begins. As part of the local community, we are here to serve and meet its needs in partnership with IHA and many other organizations that care for the people of Vernon. Based on the care and dedication that we have already seen from our local team, we are confident and excited to see how this team will support countless individuals who decide to call The Hamlets at Vernon their home.

We at H&H and the Van Ryk family are extremely grateful knowing we are very blessed, and with those blessings we look to bless those who decide to work and live here at The Hamlets at Vernon.