Qualico Links for Life Golf Invitational

OUR CHARITY

As one of the Edmonton region’s premier charity golf events, Qualico is proud to present the Links for Life Golf Invitational at the Belvedere Golf & Country Club on September 18, 2024, with proceeds benefitting the Bridge Healing Program, an initiative serving patients of the Royal Alexandra Hospital's Emergency Department.  

About the Bridge Healing Transitional Accommodation Program

The number of people who are unhoused in Edmonton has doubled since 2020… and is expected to increase further. Home to one of the busiest emergency departments in Canada, the Royal Alexandra Hospital treats a high volume of resilient patients each year. Doctors, nurses, and social workers at the forefront of emergency care are often in the difficult position of releasing patients, once treated, back into an unhoused situation, where treatment for acute illness or injury is difficult, if not impossible.

When these situations occur, they are demoralizing for medical staff and lead to extremely poor health outcomes for patients, who often end up as repeat visitors to the Emergency Department. Fueled by a desire to see real and transformative change for patients who are unhoused, medical and community leaders with the Royal Alex and Jasper Place Wellness Centre designed the Bridge Healing Program. Bridge Healing provides interim housing along with short-term work opportunities for houseless patients transitioning from the emergency room. The program acts as a crucial bridge, linking resilient individuals from a state of crisis to one of increased stability and healing.

There are currently 36 units in operation now, with up to 40 unhoused patients per day coming through the Royal Alex Emergency Department who could use the Bridge Healing program's help. As part of Qualico’s mission of Helping Build Better Cities, we have committed to helping the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation reach their fundraising goal to support the building and opening of additional units to be operated by the Jasper Place Wellness Centre. The cycle of discharging patients into houselessness needs to be broken, and the process must be fixed. Successfully funding this program would build the necessary bridge to getting Edmonton’s most vulnerable back on track to a brighter future.