To many people across Manitoba, St.Amant is a social service provider with a big brick building in St. Vital, nestled on the banks of the Red River. In reality, St.Amant has evolved significantly over its history and is now offering diverse services and supports to meet the needs of families across the province.
“The work that happens at our main campus on River Road is very important and meaningful, but it’s part of a much larger constellation of services,” explains St.Amant CEO Ben Adaman. “We have close to 80 community homes that serve almost 200 adults, and we support over 3,000 families who have children living with autism with our case management on behalf of the province of Manitoba.”
St.Amant also provides short-term placement for babies who are too well for the hospital, but not quite ready to go home. While St.Amant has always been a space for small children with developmental disabilities, they have deepened their relationship with the Children’s Hospital since 2019 to welcome and care for even more little ones.
Their Jordan’s Principle program, designed to ensure that First Nations children have access to the services they need in their home communities, serves 700 children in 53 communities across Manitoba.
And while St.Amant has always cared for those with developmental disabilities from birth to end of the life, as a large population of Baby Boomers start to approach palliative care, the organization has put much effort into creating the right protocols to ensure that dementia screening is appropriate for folks with intellectual disabilities. The training and emphasis for dementia care began in 2019 and is ongoing.
Despite the broad swath of services, Adaman acknowledges the common thread that is woven through them: “St.Amant was named after a mother,” he shares. “Beatrice St-Amant wanted a better life for her son in a time where medical professionals told her that he should be placed in an institution. She refused and cared for him herself, and eventually others joined her cause. When her work was taken over by the Grey Nuns, they continued to wonder if what they were doing was enough for the people they supported. If it wasn’t, they worked very hard to make it so.”
That spirit of dignity continues to imprint all the decision at St.Amant. “People with intellectual or developmental disabilities are not inherently sick,” Adaman explains. “They do not have a disease, and they don’t need to live in a health care setting. They deserve to live in community as full citizens, with a greater degree of choice and autonomy.”
The St.Amant of today offers services such as education with their school, research with their affiliation with the University of Manitoba and advocacy at the government level. They continue to push for change, like Beatrice St-Amant and the Sisters before them. St.Amant has expanded and grown over the years, but its main goals remain the same: supporting people to have dignity and inclusion, however they define that. “From preparing little ones with autism for kindergarten to providing respite to families, our goal is always to walk alongside them to help have a good life,” concludes Adaman.