Northern Alberta families with ill loved ones can rest assured they will soon have a place to stay while their family member recovers from their ailment.

“The Ken Sargent House will be a 21-suite, home-away-from-home for individuals and families traveling to Grande Prairie for medical care, providing a comfortable, supportive, and affordable place to stay,” explains Ken Sargent House director Dale Bond.

“The home may be for the individual receiving outpatient treatment, or it may be used by their support system if they are an inpatient,” she adds.

“The house will not provide any medical services, instead it will be there to support the overall well-being of an individual and their support system.”

The house is going to be conveniently located in Grande Prairie close to the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital, and its doors will be open to people who may require some home-like comfort when going through a difficult medical time. It will offer 21 suites, a kitchen, communal living space, office space, and laundry facilities.

“It will serve patients and their families who must travel to the city for treatments like chemotherapy, surgery, dialysis, or other specialized care, offering them a place to stay eases both the financial and emotional burden,” explains Bond.

The purpose of the house is to help reduce families’ financial burden associated with medical care, improve family well-being, enhance patient recovery, strengthen family connection, provide a sense of normalcy, and is meant to help strengthen the region and the community.

“Ken Sargent is a respected community member, entrepreneur and philanthropist known for his generosity, service, and commitment to the well-being of others,” says Bond.

“Ken made a transformational gift of $2 million that has been endowed to support future operations of the house and naming the house in his honour reflects his legacy and the values he stands for.”

The house will provide a place for people or their families to stay when they have to travel to Grande Prairie for their healthcare journey, notably providing residence for people from rural or remote areas.

Bond explains that over half of the inpatients at Grande Prairie Regional Hospital (GPRH) were from outside of the city in 2024, with additional people accessing outpatient services such as the cancer centre and QE11 Ambulatory Care Center.

The Ken Sarent House team is working diligently to try to raise funds to help run the facility long term. They are hoping to ensure the house can stay in operation to help families for generations to come.

“Illness is truly a great equalizer,” Bond stresses.

“It doesn’t care about your job title, your income, your postal code. It can knock on anyone’s door at any time. No amount of money, preparation, or planning can truly shield you from that moment when life changes in an instant.”

Bond says the Ken Sargent House team is hoping to raise upwards of $12 million to help ensure there is a comfortable space available for patients and their families, where no one has to face illness alone.

Bond adds although the house is named for Ken Sargent, it’s being built for every family member who’s ever sat beside a hospital bed, for every sibling who’s waited in the hallway, for every child who just wants to be held by their mom or dad at the end of a hard day.

“It’s a house that says ‘you belong here, and you are not alone,’” Bond notes.

“The house exists to serve your region, and its sustainability depends on the generosity of those who are able to give. A gift here becomes part of something life-changing for someone else.”

Bond says the cost of the build is $12 million. The team’s goal after the building is ready to house families is to build a large enough endowment to sustain operations moving forward. At this juncture, they still require approximately $7 million to complete the build