Red Deer’s Mustard Seed is celebrating Mental Health Week. The organization will be expanding their Health and Wellness Programs to other locations including in Red Deer. 

The Health and Wellness Program provides aid to people who are experiencing poverty and homelessness to improve their health and wellbeing including in areas such as physical, cognitive, social, environmental, and spiritual.

“Once on the street and even more, cut off from care, they are trapped in a vicious cycle of homelessness, poverty, and poor health. Our programs break that cycle and reduce the cost to our healthcare systems. Over 77% of those experiencing homelessness have an average of 2.1 hospital visits per person, per year. While the average cost per day of hospitalization is $944 in a medical ward, $1,164 in a surgical ward, and $4,114 in a critical care ward, the average cost of The Mustard Seed’s preventative Health and Wellness Services is $13.74,” it says in a release from the Mustard Seed.