The Chester Region not only has a new health centre, but they’ve managed to get it without breaking the bank.
The Our Health Centre in Chester was originally forecast to cost $4.5 million dollars, but the final total came in around $4.15 million – a savings of $350,000.
General Manager Lorraine Burch attributes the surplus to good management and buy-in from the community.
“We have about 150 volunteers and we make a call and things need to be done and they show up.”
Burch says while there will be four doctors and a nurse practitioner on staff, the facility promotes wellness in all its forms.
“We’re attracting all the other services that the community needs that have to do with wellness. So it’s not just about a needle and a pill. It’s about finding out how to be well and stay well.”
Burch says more than half of the funding came from individual donors, with corporate and government money making up the rest.
She says the foundation will continue fundraising to help support the centre’s operations and programming.
