On Feb. 1, Ontario’s Minister of Health Sylvia Jones announced that Peterborough’s proposal for a new Community Health Centre (CHC) has been awarded funding. The announcement comes as part of a province-wide investment in new primary care.
The process of assembling the proposal for a Peterborough CHC has taken “about two years,” says Board Chair Jonathan Bennett. And now that it is successful, it will be the first new CHC in Ontario in over 15 years, according to Bennett.
The CHC is an alternative model of primary care that is focused on serving the “most vulnerable people in our community,” says Bennett.
The proposal asked for $8.6 million, and, though they did not receive the full amount, Bennett believes the roughly $3 million received will be “more than enough” to begin operations of the Peterborough CHC within the next few months.
