Size: 28,000 sq ft
LEED Silver targeted
Healthy addition for North End
April 18, 2009
Rachel De Lazzer
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/550604
The largest and most energy efficient community health centre in the province will rise in Hamilton's North End by August 2010.
Into it will move a hub of activity that already serves the area's diverse population through the North Hamilton Community Health Centre on John Street North north of Burlington Street.
Just up John Street, a new facility more than twice the size of the existing 11,000-square-foot building will be built onto the south end of the Bennetto Recreation Centre.
The rec centre already offers fitness, crafts and other programs.
The result? A centrally located community hub for the North End.
A ground-breaking ceremony was held on the site yesterday.
Since its inception in 1987, the centre has grown to serve 8,000 residents a year, says executive director Beth Beader.
Most, around 6,000, come for primary care services such as treatment from family doctors, nurses and social workers. Another 2,000 use its many programs. For example, Afghan women have their own exercise class through the centre.
Fifty to 100 hungry kids enjoy a breakfast club each morning where they can fill their bellies and get homework help.
Health centre board chair Dwayne Cline says principals at Bennetto Elementary School and St. Lawrence Catholic Elementary School have said they've seen better academic performances from the kids as a result.
He adds that some of the Karen refugees from Burma, who aren't used to navigating buildings when they arrive in Canada, are thrilled to learn how to take an elevator through an immigrant and refugee program at the centre. He says some would instead climb 12 flights of stairs to their apartment units.
"The participants say things like, 'Without programs like this we would not feel welcome in this country,' " said Cline about the Karen.
The 60 staff at the centre are brimming with even more program ideas, yet have been without the space to launch them.
The present building has been bursting at the seams for a decade.
"For the past 10 years, space has been informing who we are," Beader said.
Beader says staff began planning for a new facility nine years ago.
The centre also rents space for some of its programs in two satellite locations, one on Murray Street West, the other at the Eva Rothwell Centre on Wentworth Street North.
Most staff are crammed into offices meant for fewer people.
Beader says she expects staff numbers to grow by 10 per cent in the first year of opening.
The new facility is a $16-million project. It will have two floors and a full basement.
The centre is supported financially by the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, foundations and donations.
The building will apply for LEED certification. LEED -- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design -- is a system that rates buildings based on how environmentally beneficial they are.
Threaded Mode