Like the movie Jaws and One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Unison Veiner Centre turns 50 in 2025! We will be celebrating our golden anniversary all year long and will be sharing stories from our half-decade of operation. Our community of members, volunteers, and staff help make Veiner an amazing hub of activities and services for Medicine Hat’s seniors, but it all started thanks to one man – Harry Veiner.
When Mr. Veiner, Mayor of Medicine Hat, was at a council meeting in October 1973, he decided to offer up an acre of his land to develop a gathering place for seniors. A recreation facility was drawn up and approved by council in March of 1974, and built in 1975. Funding came in from the Alberta Government, and the city of Medicine Hat to get the centre up and running and begin offering programs and a support structure for the older population.
The development of the Veiner Centre was met with eagerness and a recognition of need within the community. The centre was launched as a multi-purpose social service, cultural drop-in, and information facility for residents aged 50 and older. The plan included a housing registry to assist in securing affordable accommodation, and support for caregivers who needed respite.
News coverage from this time recounts that “It (the Veiner Centre) is needed. The Veiner Centre should be built as a service to senior citizens who have made their contributions to the community’s growth and development and well-being.” The new Veiner Centre offered (and still does) a wide variety of services and programs. Members can brush up on a new skill or learn something new. Courses were offered on sewing, jewelry making, defensive driving, banking, cooking, fitness, will and estate planning, income tax support, and arts and crafts. Home support and maintenance, like snow removal and landscaping, was offered for the 60-plus residents, or those living with a disability.
Additional programs that were added include the food security initiative, Meals on Wheels, which is still in operation today. Warm and nutritious meals are brought to seniors to help them stay healthy and in good spirits. Another similar sounding service, Wheels to Meals, provided transportation for seniors to attend a midday banquet once per month at Veiner, which was particularly important for seniors dealing with isolation. Both programs offer a critical activity for wellbeing, allowing participants to socialize and enjoy some entertainment.
The Veiner Centre was building momentum and earning a reputation. By 2009, there were 1,732
members, and local doctors were recommending Veiner’s fitness centre to seniors recovering from hip and knee replacement surgery. Minister of Seniors, Mary Anne Jablonski, visited in January, and noted impressively how use of the fitness centre increased by 247 per cent between 2006-2010.
All good stories have a bit of tension and drama, and the Veiner Centre is no exception. In 2013, a massive flood affecting Southern Alberta destroyed our building. The activities at Veiner made
do by relocating around Medicine Hat so that seniors could continue gathering and benefitting from our services and programs. Amazingly, most of the displaced activity groups survived five long years of alternative locations while the new centre was being constructed.
Meals on Wheels hung on and delivered food and friendly faces to vulnerable seniors, who were also grappling with the effects of flooding. A new centre was on the horizon, and in the autumn of 2018, a new facility was ready for Veiner. Almost…
The town of Medicine Hat wanted the new facility to be run by a non-profit organization, and released a request for proposals. The problem was that Veiner did not have official non-profit status, and had to shift to a different model in order to be competitive in the bid for the new property.
Thankfully, this change didn’t create a blockage for Veiner, and with the added non-profit status,
Unison Kerby applied, and secured the contract in 2021. By September 2021, Unison Veiner was
in full swing, with staff hired to manage day-to-day operations, and reinstate Meals on Wheels, and add programs and services to support seniors in Medicine Hat.
Unison at Veiner Centre continues to offer many of the same services and programs as our original facility, and more is added on a regular basis. We are thrilled to share the different ways our members, volunteer, staff , and the entire community have stood by us, and make Unison Veiner
an exceptional hub for seniors.
