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Cape Breton Post

Non-profit society seeks funding for $1.6M health centre in L'Ardoise

Section: Front

By Nancy King,

A non-profit society here is hoping to build a new $1.6 million health centre to allow it to better serve the needs of eastern Richmond County, as well as better recruit and retain doctors.

About 25 years ago, the area set out to attract a doctor to the area by offering a building from which to practice. The Dr. Kingston Memorial Health Centre has also since established a long-running health project which focuses on illness prevention efforts.

The building, a former parish centre, is now more than 100 years old. In addition to its age, challenges with the current location include it not being accessible, meaning clients with mobility issues can't fully access its services, noted board member Billy Cotton.

"We want a new modern facility and we really think we deserve it even though we're in a rural area," he said.

"We want to have a medical centre that promotes wellness to the community at large. Our health project is already doing that . . . it's all about prevention so you don't have to come to the clinic for the doctors. That's our purpose, to combine the two to make you healthier, but then when you're sick we treat that too."

According to the business plan for the project, the centre - which serves communities including L'Ardoise, River Bourgeois, St. Peter's, Sampsonville, Grand River - has an established client base of 5,000, a level that's remained consistent over the past decade. The board plans to continue to offer the services it does currently and expand into additional areas.

The health centre board is proposing the province contribute $1.4 million to the project, with the Municipality of Richmond and the centre itself contributing $75,000 each, while the East Coast Credit Union has offered to sell a portion of its property for a dollar, where the centre could be constructed. To date, it's attracted $74,000 of in-kind contributions, toward an overall budget of $1.6 million.

The area has encountered some difficulty in attracting physicians, in part because of the lack of facilities, Cotton said. He said a new, modern health centre and expanded services would help to change that.

"At one time we had three doctors in the existing clinic," he said.

"It's always tough getting doctors to our area because we don't have the facilities, but I suspect we will (recruit)."

The business plan is based on having one full-time doctor in the first year of operation, with a second coming on board the next year. It also includes plans to recruit a dentist in year three.

The centre may also be able to rent office space in its basement to services such things orthotics or massage therapy, although that hasn't been built into the current business plan.

Planning for the centre began about three years ago, and the society has spent a good deal of time honing its business plan, Cotton said. Board members are now holding initial talks with potential funders, having met with Health Minister Chris D'Entremont and are planning to speak with the Office of Health Promotion. They also appeared at this month's Richmond council meeting to make a grant request.

"They're very aware of what we're doing and they're very in favour of it, but of course it's $1.3 million we're looking for so it's not going to be an easy sell," Cotton said. "I'm confident it will be built, there's no question in my mind that it will happen, I'm just not sure when it will happen. It's not going to be an easy sell, of course, we've got to really prove ourselves and justify it and we're at the point where we can do that."

If things go according to plan and approvals are received early next year, ideally construction could start as soon as next spring, he said, and be completed in the fall. But he acknowledged an opening date in 2009 is probably more likely.