Renovations begin at Centretown Community Health Centre
By Reina Cowan
The Centretown Community Health Centre will use a $5.4 million grant from the provincial government to give Centretown residents better access to physical and mental healthcare and social services.
The money will go towards renovations and funding a major addition to the existing location at 420 Cooper St.
“When you start looking at our statistics, our community is growing,” said CCHC executive director Simone Thibault.
Many people who use CCHC services are part of Ottawa’s homeless population. The most recent Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa progress report from 2016 showed that 355 more people used homeless shelters in 2016 than in 2015 — a 5.2-per-cent increase.
Thibault said the influx of people to urban areas like Old Ottawa South, the Glebe and Centretown, all served by the CCHC, created a demand for more space.
The CCHC currently serves more than 15,000 clients and has a team of 300 volunteers. After the expansion is finished, the space will be able to accommodate more than 600 new clients, and improve things like addictions services, accessibility and mental health care, Thibault said.
Thibault said an extra 5,500 square feet worth of space will be added to the existing CCHC facility. The expansion will create more space to better serve community members, including LGBTQ people and new Canadians.
Initial plans for redevelopment began in 2012. Thibault said the central location was an important consideration when planning for the building update.
“We knew we were running out of space, so the first part was looking at should we stay or should we move — and that’s where the community really wanted us to stay,” she said.
A major part of the renovation funding will go towards building new community group rooms. Another change is larger exam rooms for primary care. Thibault said these changes will help people with physical disabilities and larger families.
“You can meet the standards, but really that’s not good enough,” she said. “It’s how do you ensure that you go beyond the minimum standards.”
The proposed expansion would also help cut down on wait times for those in need of urgent mental or physical healthcare, she added.
For new Canadians, Thibault said, Centretown is often a first point of contact. “They start in Centretown,” she said. “This is their first home base, so when you look at the medical care they need, the mental health issues that they need, it’s really taxing our services.”
“We are seeing an influx of more marginalized folks coming through our doors,” said Tamara Chipperfield, director of mental health and addictions at CCHC.
Chipperfield said the expansion project helps the most at-risk groups.
Centretown resident Maddie Brown is a client at the CCHC, and has also worked at the Carlington Community Health Centre as a nurse. She said the current Centretown health centre reception room lacked privacy in the waiting space.
Brown said she hopes some of the new funding will be allocated to expanding spaces like reception and waiting rooms.
“You’re doing your admission paperwork and you’re answering questions from the receptionist, and there’s people literally at your shoulders, because they just don’t have anywhere else to sit,” she said.
As renovations started, Ottawa Centre MPP, Yasir Naqvi and city councillor Catherine McKenney swung sledge hammers to help knock down an interior wall at 420 Cooper St.
In a press release, Naqvi said the investment was a “necessary step” in increasing the CCHC’s capacity to serve a diverse range of communities.
The renovation is projected to be complete by summer of 2019.
“My message out is ‘be patient,’” said Thibault. “I think it’s worth the short-term pain, because we’re going to gain from a facility that will be much more welcoming and accessible for our community.”