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Hay River Reserve wellness centre opens
Facility not replacing Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre which is losing GNWT funding at the end of September

Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 9, 2013

K'ATLODEECHE/HAY RIVER RESERVE
The K'atlodeeche First Nation Anne Buggins Wellness Centre was unveiled to the public Sept. 5, after more than a decade of discussions, planning, and construction.

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Lillian Lau-a, stands with a painting of her mother Anne Buggins, for whom the new wellness centre is named. Buggins was a leader in the community for spiritual health and well-being. - Sarah Ladik/NNSL photo

"It's been a long time coming," K'atlodeeche First Nation (KFN) Chief Roy Fabian said after welcoming the assembled community members and dignitaries to the centre.

Although the new wellness centre would provide some addictions and mental health treatment and counselling, Health and Social Services Minister Tom Beaulieu said it was not meant to replace the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre, just a few kilometres down the road.

The treatment centre will no longer be funded by the GNWT as of Sept. 30, as per the announcement made earlier this summer. Beaulieu affirmed his department is asking for aboriginal and municipal governments to come forward with plans for on-the-land, mobile and youth mental health and addictions treatment in the wake of the closing of the only territorial residential treatment centre.

As for the building itself, Beaulieu said consultations would begin shortly with KFN members as well as several elders' councils and the affected MLAs, to decide what would be the best use of the facility.

The separate wellness centre project began in 2002, but construction only began in 2007 under a previous chief and council. Multiple setbacks - including a lack of overall design, changing requirements and contracts with the GNWT, land claim issues and a general lack of designated funding - delayed the $1.2-million centre's opening until now.

"I'm happy the health centre is done," Fabian said. "It's something this community can be proud of and it's good to have it finished."

Lillian Lau-a, daughter to the late Anne Buggins for who the centre is named, said she was touched by the gesture.

"My mother passed away nine years ago and there was talk of naming it after her back then," she said.

Despite Lau-a's avowal that had she been there, her mother would have disapproved of the fuss made in her memory, she believes the centre suits the community.

"They'll make use of it, definitely," she said.

The new building, located next to the Chief Lamalice Complex, will house three health workers - a wellness worker, community health representative, and a homecare worker. The three positions have been working out of the band office for years, Fabian said, a situation that was unsatisfactory for both staff and the community.

"They'll all be well-equipped now," he said. "We had the community health representative crammed in a little office at the band office and it was hard for people to go see her there. Now they'll have adequate facilities."

Tom Beaulieu, health minister, was on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony and said the new centre would also serve as a place for health workers from Hay River to come over and offer services.

"Public health, home care, and social services (staff) were coming over, but now they have an actual facility to work out of," he said. "We're trying to have some times during the week for a clinic with a nurse practitioner or maybe a doctor coming in from Hay River once a week or something."

Overall, both Fabian and Beaulieu said the new centre will improve access to health care for all residents on the reserve. The latter said he hoped elders in particular would make use of the facility on a regular basis.

"People are more likely to come to this centre," Beaulieu said, adding the facility is within walking distance for many members of the community.

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