Residents in the Morley community will see all services provided by Stoney Health Centre amalgamated under one roof in the next year or two. The centre will be expanding in size to nearly double its current square footage. Presently, it is roughly 700 square feet but with the expansion, it will be around 1,100. Aaron Kahn, executive director and CEO of Stoney Health Services, said the design phase has now been completed and is open for tender. The hopes are that construction will begin in the next two months. "We have been growing so much in the last year, we have so many other programs. We want to bring all of these programs to one location," Kahn said. Right now, some services including optometry and sexual health are being run out of remote trailers. "(It) will really make a difference for our community because it will make it a one-stop shop for all the services," Kahn said. Other services including their dental suite will be expanded. The existing building will also see a facelift and will house therapy programs. "Our facility was built in 1998, it's 20 years old," Kahn said. "In 20 years we have grown so much that our programs need more space." Kahn said many of the health services provided by the Stoney Health have grown from two staff members to seven, furthering the need for more space. Another benefit to culminating all the services in one location, Kahn said, will be to highlight the services community members might not be aware of. "We want to do it because we do have a lot of community health partners who provide services - we want to showcase all ... services and programs that are relevant to our community and really we want to bring the community together," Kahn said, adding there are many partners who come to the reserve who don't have a lot of interaction with each other. "It's just the spirit of bringing it all under one roof and celebrating our success and just to share our goals and what we're doing for a health centre and how we are planning for our future." In the last year, the centre invested in multiple new professionals including a physiotherapist, speech pathologist, social worker, nurse practitioner, dentist and added walk-in clinic hours.
