Caledon Community Services (CCS) has been selected to provide leadership in the launch and development of a Health and Care Centre.

The Caledon and Area Health and Care Centre is being established after extensive consultation by the Central West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) with community members, civic leaders and local health care providers. CCS was selected after a call for Expressions of Interest. The agency will work closely with the many health service providers and the LHIN to ensure that the Health and Care Centre is meeting its primary goal: improving access to health services for local residents.

LHIN CEO Mimi Lowi-Young said CCS’s role will be to host the Centre, and be a coordinating body. “It seeks to bring care and services closer to the community,” she said, integrating them at the local level and making them more accessible.

“The whole idea is to help improve access to health services for local residents,” she added.

The new Centre is not immediately moving forward with a physical site. It will first look to provide information about local health services and support their coordinated efforts. Where there are obvious gaps, the Centre will work closely with local providers and the LHIN to address them as effectively and efficiently as possible. Mental health, pediatrics and geriatrics have been targeted as early priorities.

While CCS is hosting the Centre, it’s not housing it. In fact, there is no Centre in a physical sense.

“It’s a virtual Centre for the first year,” commented CCS Executive Director Monty Laskin. He added there will be discussions and planning about what needs to come to Caledon.

Laskin said he expects some specific place will eventually open up to house clinics, etc.

In terms of the timelines for establishing the Centre, Laskin said the time is “now.”

Lowi-Young said the area hospitals will be involved too, providing services like specialized clinics closer to home.

“Right now, the effort is to build a partnership among all the providers,” she said, adding it’s also important that people realize what’s available in the community. “That’s a big piece of the first piece of work that needs to be done,” Lowi-Young said.

“Caledon is blessed with a tremendous group of primary care physicians and a rich mix of health care providers,” Laskin said. “The new Centre will help coordinate our community’s health services so that all Caledon residents receive the right kind of care at the right time in the right place. We want to meet local needs with local services whenever possible.”

The Centre will use local services, help coordinate their efforts and work closely with primary care physicians so that children, seniors and all Caledon residents can be served in their own community as much as possible.

“If we’re missing something, we want to hear from physicians and other health providers,” remarked CCS Board Chair Don Marentette. “All the partners in this new Centre want to be a supportive resource to primary care doctors as they strive to meet the needs of their patients. They can’t possibly do it alone.”

The partners in this initiative, aligning their resources with the Centre’s priorities, include Headwaters Health Care Centre; William Osler Health System; Canadian Mental Health Association – Peel; Central West Community Care Access Centre; Region of Peel Public Health; Meals on Wheels; CHATT Inc.; and the Caledon Seniors Centre.