Already operating at capacity, the Centretown Community Health Centre is proposing a $6.6-million expansion to its aging facility to accommodate the influx of new residents to Centretown.
The health centre, located on Cooper Street, provides services to more than 17,000 residents in the Centretown, Glebe and Old Ottawa South neighbourhoods.
The facility is looking for an upgrade from its current 24,300 sq. metres to 33,300 sq. metres as new downtown condominiums are attracting more people to the area.
According to the centre’s executive director, Simone Thibault, the dollar amount represents two options: taking the facility apart and renovating it to new standards or finding a way to expand.
She says it is well-located for the population they serve, but the space is inaccessible, crowded and some services are not up to provincial standards.
“We’re always having problems with floods, bursting pipes and heating and cooling,” she says. “We’re getting more and more calls and we have to turn people away.”
The facility struggles with overcrowding and cramped spaces.
The 133 staff members work in tight quarters, sometimes doubled and tripled-up in offices. Exam rooms are undersized and do not meet provincial regulations. Corridors are narrow and inaccessible for those with disabilities and there is not enough space to accommodate peer support groups the centre hopes to provide.
In Somerset ward alone, the city has issued 430 condo permits for construction and development plans outline an additional 3,600 condo units that are planned or have been approved through rezoning and site plan applications.
It’s estimated that this will bring approximately 6,000 new residents to Centretown.
“Our community centres are now packed to the gills,” says Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes. “The question is what kind of services do we need to have this large influx of residents in the area and what do we need to actually provide a community?”
Thibault echoes Holmes’s sentiments and predicts the economic downtown will place more demands on the health and community centre. She says the movement of residents into Centretown condos is comparable to urban sprawl in the suburbs.
“That will create benefits for our community – the more people that live in the area, the better –but there’s a question of how we can do that well.”
The centre serves a community with one of the highest rates of seniors living alone in the city. It is also a popular starting place for newcomers and refugees requiring proximity to downtown resources.
“We have a mix of very low income from the homeless and people in non-profit housing to the expensive condos and housing and we see that in our clients,” says Thibault.
“We see people that are very poor and we see people that have a healthy income. We see both because that’s what reflects our community.”
The $6.6-million proposal was approved in principle by the Champlain Local Health Integration Network, Eastern Ontario’s health authority on Nov. 23.
It will now be forwarded for review to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The province will examine the proposal at length and ultimately make the final decision on any project funding.
Thibault says the centre services a highly engaged community with a strong volunteering base and enthusiastic board of directors. She is optimistic the overwhelming support for the facility will push the proposal into action.