About Us
Our History
A Lengthy Conception
In 1969, the Neighbourhood Improvement Committee identified accessible health and social services as a primary need in what was then Dalhousie Ward. It acquired a house from the National Capital Commission on Primrose Avenue in which to locate and coordinate services for the area. As agencies in the late 1960's were not quite ready for the secondment of staff to neighbourhood centres which were controlled by community organizations, they were hesitant to release staff or commit themselves to more than a "liaison" role. Nevertheless, health and social services agency representatives and students were drawn to the centre where they got to know one another and community members, and exchange information about services. Within a short time however, the house burned down and the initial phase ended.
Birth Above A Tavern
In 1972, following similar request from Lowertown, Regional Council was persuaded to fund a multi-service unit in Dalhousie Ward which became known as the "Rochester Unit" because of its location on Rochester Street - situated above the Capital House Tavern. For about three years, Dalhousie Community Services operated from that location, administered by the Regional Social Services Department and staffed by workers seconded from the Children's Aid Society, Family Service Centre, Regional Health Unit, Youth Services Bureau and the Ministry of Community & Social Services. Although no formal community board existed, the staff consulted regularly with residents.
Medical Services Added
By 1974, there was a strong consensus that medical services were needed in Dalhousie Ward. There were few general practitioners in the area and most residents traveled miles to see a doctor. Formal requests were made to the Ministry of Health and in May 1975, a contract was signed including the Social Planning Council, the Regional Municipality and the Ministry of Health, which allowed for a Community Health Centre to be established as part of the Community Service Centre. New facilities were required and the Dalhousie Community Services moved to 43 Eccles Street.
Community members were invited to an open house in the new Centre, at which several were elected to sit on a selection committee to hire physicians. The committee continued to meet through the summer of 1975, selecting three physicians and a new Centre supervisor. The community representatives on the selection committee were then invited to help plan the first annual meeting of the Dalhousie Community Service Centre, which was held in November 1975.
Incorporation - Growing up
On December 13, 1978, Dalhousie Health and Community Services became officially incorporated. This new status enabled the Board of Directors to take direct control of the medical contract, which had been maintained by the Social Planning Council. Although the Board of Directors continued to act as an advisory body to the Commissioner of Social Services, its new legal status enabled the Board to undertake projects and solicit additional funding on its own. Within a year and a half that was realized as the Centre took on a contract with the Ministry of Community & Social Services to provide Family Support & Enrichment Program as part of the multi-service centre.
A New Home
On January 27, 1982, the Dalhousie Health and Community Services moved into improved office space in the former St-Jean Baptiste School at 755 Somerset Street West. The Dalhousie North Community Services Contribution Program (CSCP) Committee had recommended that the bulk of the CSCP funding be spent on creating a community focus for the Ward. The unnamed community centre, managed by the City of Ottawa, houses the Nanny Goat Hill Nursery School, Dalhousie Recreation Association and multi-use community space for meetings and community events. This new space enabled the Centre to have a higher community profile, encouraged greater cooperation with other community groups in Dalhousie Ward, and provided some space for program expansion.
The next decade saw rapid expansion with the addition of Community Development, Asian Social Service and Seniors Interaction. In 1990 our boundaries were expanded to include Elmdale ward. The go ahead from our major funder, the Ministry of Health, was given to purchase property for a new facility and a major capital fundraising campaign began. By the end of 1990 over $100,000 was raised. Over the next two years property on the corner of Booth and Eccles streets was purchased and construction began on our new home at 55 Eccles Street. In 1992 we became Somerset West Community Health Centre. The name was changed to avoid confusion with Dalhousie Community Centre and the association with Dalhousie Street in the market area. Our annual operation budget in 1992 was $3.3 million with funding from the Ministry of Health (73%) Ministry of Community and Social Services (16%), Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton (7%) and from other sources (4%).
On February 12, 1993, the Somerset West Community Health Centre hosted its official opening at our new location at 55 Eccles Street. This was a truly exciting event, attended by an estimated 500 people, reflective of the rich cultural mosaic of our community. Clients, politicians, funders, business leaders, board members, other service providers, our staff, all came together to mark the occasion. Our Walk-In Clinic also opened this year. We have staffed this clinic with a Nurse Practitioner, with back-up from our staff physicians. Within our primary care program, we had 6,853 visits from clients, representing 27,000 encounters.
1993 saw the addition of our Acupuncture program that provided services funded through the Ministry of Health. This was a first in the province of Ontario, and supported alternative treatments at no cost to clients.
In 1996 Somerset West Community Health Centre celebrated 25 years of making a difference in our community. We folded four departments into two, which meant the creation of a leaner more efficient organization with more cohesion and strength.
In 1997 SWCHC joined with other member centres, through The Coalition of Ottawa-Carleton Community Resource Centres, to bring a strong voice to the regional Council in advocating for the protection of basic health and social services in Ottawa-Carleton. Within the Coalition, we have also participated in a range of program initiatives such as diabetes service, speech and language therapy, midwifery services, and the Healthy Babies - Healthy Children initiative to name a few.
We dashed into the new millennium by adding many new programs including Street Health Outreach, Problem Gambling Counselling, Youth Employment Apprenticeship Program, Plouffe Park Summer program, Housing Support and Children/Youth programming in the local Family Shelter and the addition of Parent Child programming in Laroche Park.
The new century has not seen a slow down in growth and expansion. We continue to monitor trends and needs within our community and do our best to support those needs. We have also been recognized for our hard work with the Provincial Award for Excellence in Primary Care, United Way Community Builder Award (youth category), Geeta Gupta Equity and Diversity Award from the College of Family Physicians Canada; even our building won an Award of Excellence for architectural work keeping with historical character of the neighbourhood.
In 2003 we had over 31,000 client visits and an annual budget of over $5 million dollars. We continue to provide cutting edge programs and services to our community. In 2005 our community was touch by tragedy when we lost five Thach family members in a devastating Somerset Street fire. It is our privilege to have coordinated our community, our province and our country to come together to help this family heal and begin to be able to rebuild their lives. We have since taken a lead role in fire prevention initiatives to make sure as many families as possible in our community are safe and protected. On a more upbeat note we also doubled the size of Nanny Goat Hill Headstart Nursery school and added transportation to bring our youngest citizens to school safe and sound!
By 2006 our client visits were up over 39,000 with another 8,600 people participating in 43 different groups and programs. We provided help to 660 individuals in more than 3,700 counselling sessions and assisted more than 100 families including 230 children to secure permanent housing. We also moved our Community Services team back over to 755 Somerset Street, which only goes to show what goes around, comes around…history does repeat itself!
Every One Matters
In March of 2008 the Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC) launched a campaign to showcase the benefits of increased access to Community Health Centres. The AOHC launched this campaign under the banner "Every One Matters" - a vision at the core of Somerset West CHC. This was evident with the Centre responding to significant community needs, including a fire at the corner of Somerset Street West and Booth, the continuance of the safe inhalation program to reduce HIV and Hepatitis C, and a feasibility study concerning the possibility of a food co-op to ensure affordable and nutritious food in the wake of the closure of the Loeb grocery store at Booth and Eccles.
Yet Keen Seniors' Day Centre
We were pleased to welcome the Yet Keen Seniors' Day Centre into the SWCHC family of programs in October of 2009. Yet Keen has been serving Chinese speaking seniors since 1985 and offers social/recreational activities, physical fitness programs and cooking club activities.
Queensway Preschool
In July 2010 the SWCHC family grew again, as we welcomed the Queensway Preschool located in the Parkdale United Church, on the corner of Gladstone and Parkdale Avenues, to our ever growing roster of programs and services available in our community. Queensway Preschool has a rich history in the community dating back to 1969 and currently offers both morning and afternoon fully subsidized programming for children 18 months to 5 years of age.
Strategic Directions
Every three years the Board of Directors sets and approves the Strategic Directions for the Centre. At our annual General meeting In June 2010 the membership approved the Strategic Directions 2010-2013 which relfects both the mission of Somerset West CHC and future strategies.
