Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre opens in Windsor

Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre. (Ricardo Veneza / CTV Windsor)

A major renovation and expansion will mean better access to care for Indigenous people in Windsor-Essex.

A ceremony with traditional First Nations singing and drumming was held Monday afternoon at the newly reconstructed Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre in Windsor.

The centre serves 600 local First Nations, Metis and Inuit families in Windsor-Essex and the communities of Caldwell First Nation, Delaware Nation at Moraviantown, and Aamjiwnaang First Nation (Sarnia).

Services include primary health care, mental health and addictions support, and traditional healing services.

Integrated Care Manager Elayne Isaacs tells CTV Windsor she expects the number of clients to grow.

Isaacs says the centre will now be able to offer local families care they may not have previously had access to.

“When it comes to primary care, many of them were maybe on waitlists or have accessed services in other areas but, what's unique to this is it's not just access to primary care -- we work on the holistic, individual wellness of that person,” says Isaacs.

The SOAHAC is located in the plaza at 1405 Tecumseh Rd W.

The accredited health access centre receives funding from the Local Health Integration Network, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services as well as grants for community programs.