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Rural Economic Development (RED) Program
Inspiring Rural Communities is a collection of stories from rural Ontario communities. It is inspired by people who see potential in their home towns and are eager to share their experiences Delhi Builds New Health Centre
Community leaders felt that a successful health-care centre was important to the farming town of 4,500. When public meetings confirmed strong support for the initiative, the community rallied around the project with fundraising events and private donations. The need to provide local health care to every resident was important to the town which was struggling along with only one doctor. Now the Delhi Community Health Centre has three doctors and no shortage of patients from the town and surrounding area. "Residents don't have to go out of town for their care and the walk-in clinic is attracting rural people to come to Delhi," says local family physician, Dr. Bill Thorogood. The decision to locate the Health Centre downtown also provides economic
benefits to the town centre. "I've talked to people from the
surrounding area who are coming into Delhi to go to the walk-in clinic
or to see one of the doctors and at the same time they're spending
"It retains a lot of the services here" says Linda Vanlondersele, the Administrator of the Delhi Community Health Centre. "The town was having problems with people leaving to do their shopping. When your health services are here, there's one more reason to use local services and shops in the downtown." Vanlondersele is excited about the future. The Center and its health professionals were one of the first in the province to be designated as a Family Health Team by the Ministry of Health. Right now the centre houses three family doctors and a satellite pharmacy. With the success of the Family Health Team, the community will have access to nurse practitioners, social workers, physiotherapy and up to five family doctors. That's a far cry from where the Town of Delhi was a few years ago. "We were down to one doctor who was planning to leave," says Patti Moore, General Manager of Health and Social Services for Norfolk County. "It's tough for a single doctor to manage a practice and their own office building. We've been able to keep that physician and attract two others because of the new Health Centre." "It's truly been a community initiative," says Dr. Bill Thorogood. "The various community groups banded together to hold fundraising events for us. All the money went into improving the capital equipment and various expenses of the clinic. The community really made it work. The clinic is a better environment for providing health care." The Province of Ontario and the municipality helped with the funding
as well. Leona Dombrowsky, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Affairs says the investment was made through the Rural Economic Development
(RED) Program. "Ontario's success depends on building strong
Increased visits downtown, more commerce for local merchants and expanding health services are all doing their part for the town of Delhi. In fact, the Delhi Community Health Centre is reaching out to other communities. They've created a partnership with another health centre in the village of Port Rowan. Patti Moore feels it's an example of how small rural health centres and doctor's practices, "can come together and improve through partnerships." Please contact the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural
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