The Bowen Island Health Centre Foundation has passed a critical milestone in its goal to build a community health centre on Bowen Island. The Canada Revenue Agency Charities Directorate has approved its application for charitable status.
“Charitable status allows us to begin fundraising to build a Bowen Island community health centre.” said the foundation’s president Tim Rhodes. “It will be community-owned, community-governed, and community-centred.
“This community health centre on Bowen will greatly ease the stress of needing to travel to the mainland for healthcare services; will provide urgent care for the community; will be patient-centred; and will promote health education for community wellbeing.”
Colleen O’Neil, vice-president of the foundation, said the health centre will “build partnerships among community residents, and a wide variety of healthcare, social service, housing, education, and other partners.
“These relationships will help our community health centre to identify the needs of our community, to design and oversee appropriate service delivery, to address the many social determinants of health, and to evaluate health service programs. In addition to high-quality interdisciplinary services, community health centres go beyond just ‘care’,” she said.
Charitable status was a prerequisite to the Health Centre Foundation’s capital fundraising campaign, and a condition the Bowen Island municipal council set prior to entering a long-term lease agreement for a portion of the community lands south of the new Fire Hall site on Miller’s Road.
The Health Centre Foundation is now able proceed with its plans to fundraise, design, build and open a community health centre on Bowen in the winter of 2020.
The foundation sees this as an aggressive but attainable goal.
Physicians, medical practitioners, and allied professionals interested in participating in the health centre should contact the Bowen Island Heath Centre Foundation or speak with one of its directors.
The Health Centre Foundation is actively looking to fill as many as five positions on the board. It is a working board, and directors are expected to participate in one or more of the Health Centre Foundation committees including communications, facilities (design, construction, maintenance and operations), fundraising, governance and health services advisory.
Bowen Islanders who have experience and expertise in any of these areas and would like to be considered for a position as a director and/or committee member are asked to contact the Health Centre Foundation at [email protected] or speak with one of the directors.
It’s time to take care of our own and bring health care close to home.
Bowen Island Health Centre Foundation: Tim Rhodes, Colleen O’Neil, Ken McArthur, David Adams, Bill Brown, Sheree Johnson and Bruce Wallace
