Aboriginal health centre celebrates big expansion

The Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre in Windsor opened its doors to the community Monday afternoon to celebrate renovations and expansions made to the centre — that will help provide more services to the community.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony opened with a prayer song led by the facility’s traditional healing liaison Lacey George.

Erie St. Clair Local Integrated Health Network CEO Ralph Ganter, Windsor West MP Brian Masse, Mayor of Tecumseh Gary McNamara and Ward 10 Coun. Jim Morrison then cut the ribbon together.

The Tecumseh Road West space is now nearly three times its original size, with funding from the Local Health Integration Network. “It combines both health and social services, and for all of us this centre’s holistic approach represents what I think is the future of health care,” said Ganter. With the spatial expansion, new services were also added, including a physician, a second nurse practitioner, a child and youth mental health worker, a family social worker, an addictions counsellor and a traditional healing liaison.

“A very spiritual, sacred place this is — we have a place of love and compassion and we just want to ensure that our community can access a safe place to come,” Integrated Care Manager Elayne Isaacs said. Another addition is the centre’s community garden. The garden started with the Friendship Centre but once it moved, the new SOAHAC Windsor space took over creating the garden and providing an opportunity to reconnect with the land, Isaacs said.

“We provide children’s programming, we do yoga in the garden, we grow our traditional Indigenous herbs, flowers we try to pollinate ensuring the bees come back to us,” she said. “Ideally moving forward we hope to have sweat lodges and teepee ceremonies back there.” The Windsor site offers access to a wide array of free care for the First Nations, Inuit and Métis people of Windsor-Essex County and also offers outreach services to nearby First Nations communities including Caldwell First Nation, Delaware Nation at Moraviantown, and Aamjiwnaang First Nation.

“We have a lot of great work to do for our community and their wellness and they know that we will be there to support them,” said Isaacs. “This is a safe space for our community to come to receive primary care, healing and wellness services and traditional healing services.”