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Taberites got to see for themselves up close and personal the evolution of health care in the area on Friday at the Taber Health Centre.

There Alberta Health Services and Alberta Infrastructure announced to onlookers in an open house a $9-million-dollar project which will renovate 2,600 square metres of vacant space at the Taber Health Centre to consolidate health programs located throughout the town into one area for maximum efficiency.

“This gives the people of Taber a state-of-the-art clinic. This is all designed around team-based care which is the way health care is going in Alberta which is what we are trying to do,” said Mike Brand, manager of the Associate Medical Clinic which is one of Taber’s services that will make the move into the newly renovated project which is expected to break ground in the spring. “We built this where physicians and their teams are co-located in the same spot with not only the people who work in the clinic but the other services in town as well so everything is under one roof.”

Bringing acute care, continuing care, community-based health services and the physician clinic all into one building is a win-win situation both for patients and the provincial government according to Brand.

“Increased communication means better health and better care. This is something where they are doing it if they can — it just makes sense to use these extra spaces when you can. Hopefully it will be more efficient for patients and they will get better outcomes and so the health care will cost less in the long run,” said Brand. “Everyone I’ve talked to has said it’s a positive. How could it not be? Our clinic right now is well past it’s best-before date.”

The 2,600 square metres of renovated space for the spring project was made available after long-term care was shifted from inside the hospital to the Good Samaritans facility of Linden View where the Associate Medical Clinic will be every appreciate of its new digs.

“That clinic started as a one-doctor clinic back in 1947,” said Brand adding there are plans in the works for the buildings in Taber that will be vacating in the eventual move to the centralize health care initiative to the spring renovation of the eventual Taber Integrated Health Centre. “The buildings will not be empty, we have enough of those. We need to see the hammers swinging on this project first.”

Building plans an interior rendering boards were on display at the health centre for onlookers who took in Friday’s two-hour open house where the renovating will be pleasing to the eye along with its inclusive feel.

“With the old clinic, it is a rat’s nest of rooms with various corridors. With this, you can stand right in the centre of the waiting room and you can see the entire clinic. There will be lots of glass and lots of natural light, it will be much more inviting and calming,” said Brand. “This (open house) is a chance for people to see that this is really going to happen. It’s been talked about for 10 years now and it’s something good for the people of Taber.”

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