Ottawa's Perley Health officially opened the Andrew Fleck Children's Services Intergenerational Early Learning Centre on September 16, 2026. Dignitaries, board members, employees, volunteers, residents and veterans gathered at the Perley Health campus to celebrate the grand opening of a centre years in the making, one that puts a working child care operation inside a facility built for seniors and veterans.
49 New Childcare Spaces on Site
The new centre will include 49 childcare spaces. It sits on the first floor of Perley Centre, across from the pharmacy, placing the youngest members of the community in the middle of the campus rather than off to the side in a separate building.
A Campus Built for Connection
Perley Health's campus is home to more than 600 residents and tenants. The new centre was designed to knit those older residents, including veterans, together with the children coming through the doors each day, instead of keeping the generations apart the way most care campuses do.
Kim Hiscock, CEO of Andrew Fleck Children's Services, said the impact is already visible day to day. Residents, she said, are opening their windows just to hear the children outside.
The Research Behind the Model
Dr. Annie Robitaille, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa's Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences and the Commissionaires Ottawa Research Chair in Frailty-Informed Care, said intergenerational contact, done well, can be remarkable for older adults, including improving memory.
A Year in the Making
The opening caps roughly a year of work at Perley Health. A groundbreaking ceremony, with its own speeches, applause and words of gratitude, was held on the same campus on September 8, 2025, setting the timeline for the centre that opened this week.
The Bridging Generations Campaign
The centre is the centrepiece of the Bridging Generations fundraising campaign.
Sources: Ottawa Life Magazine, Andrew Fleck Children's Services (official), Perley Health (official)
