Some families fret over closure of Moose Jaw facility

With Valley View Centre in Moose Jaw slated for closure in 2016, some family members of intellectually disabled residents are worried about what will happen to their loved ones.

The province says it has a plan to deal with the more than 200 people with intellectual disabilities who live at the facility — which was built in 1955 and designed to house 1,500 residents.

For many years, there's been a move to deinstitutionalize people from such facilities, integrating them into the larger community. As a result, Valley View hasn't been taking new residents since 2002.

Most of those who remain will likely be moved into group homes.

That's a concern for the family of longtime Valley View resident Darren Looker, 46. He tried living in group homes two times, but it didn't work out, his mother Wilma told CBC News.

She said the impending closure is tough to take.

"It just shook me right up," she said. "That's his home and the home for all of them out there."

Brenda Kingston's sister Dorothy lives in Valley View and Kingston also says she's concerned.

"Now you're going to take them, disrupt their lives, put them into group homes where they're not going to be happy," she said. "I don't believe they'll get the care they're getting now and they don't have the facilities that they need."

However, the Saskatchewan Association for Community Living (SACL), which represents families who have members with mental disabilities, says it generally supports the idea of transferring the patients out of Valley View.

Social Services Minister June Draude said the ministry is meeting with each and every family and hopes that by early in the new year it can let them know where their loved ones will move.

"I'm feeling comfortable that we're on the same page," Draude said. "We're going to be building a plan that meets the needs of the people at  Valley View."