September 24, 2014
Manitoba Government Announces New Access Centre to be Built in Fort Garry
– – –New Centre to Integrate Health, Social Services, Improve Access to Community-based Care
Families in southwest Winnipeg will soon see a new ACCESS centre developed in Fort Garry, which will improve access to care and services in their neighbourhood, Health Minister Erin Selby announced today.
“Offering responsive, timely and appropriate community-based services are key to helping Manitobans get the care they need close to home,” said Minister Selby. “Bringing together health and social services is critically important to improving access to primary care and ensuring care is built around the needs of people living in Winnipeg’s Fort Garry community area.”
“ACCESS centres make it easier for Manitoba families to find services,” said Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross. “By offering convenient access to a broader range of services and information to families within the community, this centre meets their needsand contributes to better quality of life in a familiar environment.”
ACCESS Fort Garrywill be locatedbehind the Pembina Crossing Mall on Pembina Highway near Bishop Grandin Boulevard.
Programs and services offered at ACCESS centres will include primary care services and eventually include:
- public health services;
- mental health services;
- employment and income assistance services;
- the marketAbilities program, offering employment services to assist adults with disabilities;
- children’s disability services;
- community living disability services;
- home-care services;
- home-care nursing clinic; and
- audiology and speech language services.
In addition, this new ACCESS centre will have some site-specific services to meet the needs of area residents, public health inspectors and community development space including a community kitchen, educational room and several meeting rooms that will be available for community use, Minister
Irvin-Ross noted.
Minister Selby addedthe centre will be designed to support people with disabilities by accommodating wheelchairs and scooters.
“The development of ACCESS Fort Garry will bring together health and social services in one location to better serve the needs of the community and it will continue building on the successful community service models that have been used elsewhere in the Winnipeg region,” said Réal Cloutier, vice-president and chief operating officer, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. “The services that will be offered from this location will improve access to community-based services, it will strengthen the integration of our services so that people can better navigate the system and it will support a stronger continuum of health and social services. All of this helps in our efforts to provide the right care in the right place at the right time.”
There are currently five ACCESS centres in Winnipeg including ACCESS River East, ACCESS Transcona, ACCESS NorWest, ACCESS Downtown and the recently opened ACCESS Winnipeg West.
The ministers noted the new ACCESS centre is another step forward in building a more robust, co-ordinated and accessible primary care system for Manitobans, andwill support the province’s commitment to ensure any Manitoban who wants one has access to a family doctor.
Recent investments to support this commitment include funding for new health-care professionals at doctor’s offices, construction of new primary care clinics across the province and the launch of the first of 14 My Health Teams.
For more information on the role of ACCESS centres and primary care in Manitoba, visit www.gov.mb.ca/health/primarycare/access.html.
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