Wednesday, November 1, 2023 – At the Monday, October 30, 2023 Council Meeting, Mayor Tait called for a six-member Standing Committee on Community Health Care with representatives from council and three members of the Sooke Region Communities Health Network (SRCHN). Mayor Tait will be a part of the committee as an ex-officio member.
The committee’s mandate is to research and develop options for a community health centre in a future development planned for 6671 Wadams Way, also called Lot A. It is expected to open in 2025. The committee will also explore partnerships with health service agencies targeted for the health centre.
When the province announced a new integrated health care coming to Sooke in March, there was much excitement in the air. The Standing Committee will help keep the momentum going and is an integral next step to realize a new facility that “will combine the community health centre (CHC) and urgent- and primary-care centre (UPCC) at a future development planned for 6671 Wadams Way” as previously reported.
“Once open, the CHC/UPCC centre will consolidate local primary-care services from West Coast Family Medical Clinic and other local community services into a single location, making it easier for people to access the health services they need. This will be done by better connecting more people to integrated health-care services in the community, such as primary care, culturally safe supports and mental-health and substance-use services,” the province shared in its March release.
“This new integrated health-care facility will connect people in the community to a range of health-care services, including primary care, urgent care and community health services all under one roof,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “Integrating physicians into a community-based primary-care model means more time for patients, more patients accessing health-care services and less administrative burden for practitioners. This is part of our continuing work to build increased and improved access to primary health care for people in Sooke.”
The district can manage the land, but health care is not a local government responsibility; however, having everyone work together is instrumental to bringing this project to fruition.
“Community livability is a local government responsibility and building a safe and complete community means advocating for health care,” shares Mayor Tait at the October 30th meeting. “Residents need to be able to access services close to home as opposed to sending everyone to core municipalities or VGH emergency room,” Tait says.
With this approach, several members of the Council along with key stakeholders from Sooke Region Community Health Network (SRCHN) will continue to bring this project forward and see it be realized.