New Community Health Centre Serving Residents in Central Regina
The Al Ritchie Heritage Community Health Centre is one of four community health centres recently opened in Saskatchewan as part of Connected Care, a provincial strategy to enhance access to team-based community, home and primary health care, and reduce wait times in emergency departments.
Located adjacent to the Regina General Hospital at 1550-14th Avenue, the centre brings together services from the former Al Ritchie Health Action Centre, midwifery and Kids First Program. In addition, services have been expanded to include nurse practitioner services, chronic disease management and immunization services.
“Our government continues to invest in collaborative, team-based care in primary health for coordinated and timely service to residents,” Health Minister Jim Reiter said. “The care offered by Al Ritchie Heritage Community Health will address many issues that might otherwise result in an emergency department visit or unnecessary hospital admission.”
The centre also connects clients to other services in the community related to food security, social, housing assistance, financial and employment issues.
“In the few times we were able to visit the centre, pre-COVID, we were impressed with the bright fresh look of the common room and kitchen,” Al Ritchie Heritage Community Health Centre clients Anne and Lloyd Bartel said. “Being mobility impaired, we were also impressed with the washroom. However, the main attraction is the amazing and caring staff who have been a real anchor during COVID.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic created a dramatic shift in how the centre provides services but we’ve been able to continue offering our programs virtually, via door stop drop offs and in person,” Saskatchewan Health Authority Central Health Network Director Laveena Tratch said. “We’ve been using social media to provide healthy living strategies and making telephone contacts with isolated clients to ensure their needs are met. Elder and Knowledge Keeper support has also been available on request.”
The provincial government is directing a portion of federal funding under the Canada-Saskatchewan Home and Community Care and Mental Health and Addiction Services Funding Agreement toward the Al Ritchie Heritage Community Health Centre. Federal funding of $1.02 million was used in 2019-20 for capital and operational costs with an additional $126,000 of the same funding being used for additional staffing in 2020-21.
For more information about services offered by Al Ritchie Heritage Community Health Centre and how to access them, visit http://www.rqhealth.ca/facilities/al-ritchie-heritage-community-health-centre.