Centre ready for new home

Ararat Rural City Council’s Maternal and Child Health service will move to East Grampians Community Health Centre this week.

The move to a new home in Girdlestone Street will provide more room for the service.

Council chief executive Tim Harrison said the move would mean a much newer facility for the service’s two maternal and child health nurses Therese Arnott and Brooke Jess, and larger facilities for families.

Dr Harrison said the service would have two consulting rooms if needed instead of one, an administration office and considerable storage space.

He said another ‘huge’ benefit would be the centre’s proximity to allied health services such as dental, physiotherapy, speech pathology and dieticians.

The service’s new location is also next to a Toy Library, where parents’ group gatherings will be in the future, and the new facility would also have two dedicated ‘parents with prams’ parking spaces.

“Being in the same building as other health professionals will make it much easier for families to be referred to specialists if needed,” Dr Harrison said.

The doors of the current Maternal and Child Health centre at 60 High Street, Ararat, closed on Monday to allow for the move.

Nurses are available over the phone and will continue home visits during this time.

The centre will reopen in its new location on Saturday.

Monthly immunisation sessions will continue as normal in the new facility, on the third Wednesday of the month, with the next session on August 21.

“Our nurses are really looking forward to the move as it will mean a bigger and brighter space for them to help our new parents and their new arrivals,” Dr Harrison said.