Municipal land sale to support community health hub

County council has approved the sale of Lot 37 in the Picton industrial park for the purpose of establishing a community health hub.

Erin Richmond and Trevor Jones have purchased the land with the intention to expand medical office space in partnership with the Prince Edward Family Health Team (PEFHT). The land abuts 11 MacSteven Drive, which the buyers already own and lease space to the PEFHT. They plan to work with PEFHT to expand and renovate the building to accommodate family health team programs and delivery of primary care.

“We are pleased to purchase Lot 37, located next to our existing commercial building at 11 MacSteven Drive in Picton and within close proximity to the new Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital currently under construction,” Ms. Richmond stated. “This acquisition is the first key step in a longer process toward supporting a shared vision — developed in partnership with the municipality and the Prince Edward Family Health Team — to create a community health hub that will enhance primary care access for all residents of Prince Edward County.”

“Community health is a top priority of council, and we are committed to removing the barriers to attracting more health care service providers to Prince Edward County,” stated Mayor Steve Ferguson. “We are pleased to work with our public and private partners on creating a hub that will serve to strengthen primary care in our community for years to come.”

The community health hub concept will support PEFHT’s efforts to expand access to primary care for residents. The province of Ontario recently announced that PEFHT is among the eight primary care teams that will share $4,456,100 to connect more people to primary care in the region. As a result of the funding, PEFHT, in collaboration with the Hastings Prince Edward Ontario Health Team, is establishing a process to accept new patients and will communicate it to the community when it is finalized.

“PEFHT is thankful to the municipality for placing such a fine focus on health care in the community, specifically primary health care,” stated Barindeer Gill, PEFHT Executive Director. “Primary health care is the foundation of the health-care system. We collectively need to ensure that it is as robust as possible because our residents are depending on it, as are our phenomenal health-care workers. This decision provides yet another opportunity for us to build an equitable and readily accessible system of care.”

The team has 16 family physicians (regulated for 23) and their office staff work with the PEFHT and are supported by nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers, dietitians, and other clinical and administrative professionals in five different clinic locations; four in Picton and one in Wellington.

The municipality followed its Sale or Disposition of Land Policy for selling the land in the industrial park. Two offers were received with council opting to accept the lower offer as allowed under the policy stating it’s in the best interest of the municipality. Staff have met with the other prospective buyer and discussed the possibility of finding other land suitable for that person’s needs.