Meet new city health centre boss
Vaughan Citizen
Feb 06, 2008

By Michael Power

A proud Vaughan resident has some big plans for the city’s new Community Health Centre. Isabel Araya takes over later this month as its executive director, which is scheduled to open this fall on Jane Street between Rutherford Road and Major Mackenzie Drive.

“It is an opportunity to give back to the community that has helped me raise my family,” said Ms Araya, who has spent close to two decades working in the community health sector.

For the past 16 years, Ms Araya held several senior positions at Stonegate Community Health Centre in Etobicoke, including acting as that facility’s executive director.

She holds a bachelor of science in psychology from Saint Thomas Aquinas University in Colombia and a master’s degree in education and counseling from the University of Toronto. She earned her post-graduate certificate in management of non-profit organizations from York University.

Community health centres give primary health care and social services while promoting good health. They focus on preventive medicine and helping people take charge of their health and lifestyle. The centre will host a team of health care workers to include nurse practitioners and registered nurses, dietitians and physiotherapists.

Social and community health workers will work on programs for groups of people identified as priorities, such as seniors, youth and those with mental health and addiction issues. Employees at the centre will help clients deal with other issues, too, such as finding employment or helping to process documents to help clients get housing.
“We know all those social determinants of health are important in the overall health of an individual,” Ms Araya said. “Health isn’t just the absence of disease. It’s more comprehensive.”

As well, the centre will work to serve the needs of Vaughan’s diverse population, Ms Araya said. For example, the centre will hire staff who speak several of the languages city residents call their own, rather than providing service strictly in English.

Among the qualifications for employees, the centre will look for skill in languages such as those of South Asia, the Philippines, Spanish and Russian, among others.

The roughly 17,000-square-foot centre will have about 30 full and part-time employees, Ms Araya said. The centre will look for government funding in the future to expand its range of services, she said.

The building will also include other complementary medical services.