Vaughan's own Community Health Centre to open in late-spring 2008
Vaughan Perspectives

By Jim Keenan

The World Health Organization definition of health has been used, unchanged since 1948, when it first came into force: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

Cut to the quick, to promote such health among the citizens of Vaughan is the goal of the Vaughan Community Health Centre scheduled to open in the late spring, 2008. "We don't want to see silos in the Vaughan health care network," says Ward 2 Councillor Tony Carella and newly appointed chair of the VCHC board. "While the community health centre will not be about acute care or emergency care, as it focuses on family medicine, the goal is to ensure that its services will mesh and coordinate under the umbrella of the planned Vaughan Health Care Campus which will provide the much needed hospital services for the city and environs."

There are already many CHCs across the province. Their overall mandate is to work with individuals, families and communities to strengthen their capacity to take more responsibility for their health and wellbeing. They provide education and advice on helping families access the resources they need from other community agencies. CHCs work together with others on health promotion initiatives within schools, in housing developments, and in the workplace. They link families with support and self-help groups that offer peer education, support in coping, or are working to address conditions that affect health. “The most important word in VCHC is community," says Joe Da Silva, project coordinator who has been given the task of creating the community network and preliminary set up for the health centre. "From our governance structure which draws from a broad cross section of stakeholders in our community, to the programs we will put in place which will contribute to the development of healthy communities, our focus is on community."

The VCHC will be staffed by doctors, nurse practitioners, therapists, and community outreach workers. Youth, seniors and those with addictions and their total health care needs are key groups upon which the center's resources will be brought to bear. The VCHC will be fully funded by the province through allocations arrived at through the Central Local Health Integration Network (Central LHIN). The VCHC will be located just north of the corner of Jane and Rutherford on the east side of Jane. It will lease 17,000 square feet of a property currently under construction. There is hope that other health service providers will locate in the surrounding buildings and thereby facilitate the networking so crucial to achieving community health goals.

This site was chosen upon the recommendation of an outside consultant after requests for expression of interest in the project were sent out. The owner of the property, who is also a member the Vaughan Health Care Foundation, absented themselves from any of these proceedings to ensure that conflict of interest guidelines were adhered to.

The VCHC was officially incorporated in July 2006 and initially was steered by a temporary board of directors composed of three members of the Vaughan Health Care Foundation Board. A Community Advisory Committee was struck drawing from all sectors of the community to chart the direction of the new centre. By Aug. 30, this committee had established the mission, vision and values statements for the new VCHC.
The mission is as follows: Through primary health care, counseling and health promotion, the Vaughan Community Health Centre - as part of the Vaughan Health Campus of Care - improves the quality of life
and well-being of the Vaughan community.

The most immediate task the new board (created 'by a by-law passed this fall) with its 18 members is to hire an executive director. "We are very excited about the tremendous response to our request for applications," says Carella. "Six top notch people have made the first cut and we will begin interviewing this week." The intent is to have the successful candidate on the job by January, 2008. Then the process of hiring the rest of the staff will begin.