‘Huge step forward’: Vulcan Community Health Centre breaks ground on expansion

It was a morning of significance and celebration Friday in the Vulcan area, as staff broke ground on the expansion of the Vulcan Community Health Centre.

WATCH: Vulcan County denies application to build dog breeding facility and kennel

Close to 100 people looked on in a show of support, including a man who knows the value of this hospital first hand.

In 2008, Lacoursiere was involved in a head-on collision two miles north of Vulcan, which left him with a broken leg.

“If I had any kind of internal bleeding, or anything more serious than a femoral fracture, it would have been a lot more scary,” Lacoursiere said. “So we were very lucky to have this facility here.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If I had any kind of internal bleeding, or anything more serious than a femoral fracture, it would have been a lot more scary," Lacoursiere said. "So we were very lucky to have this facility here."

The value of this hospital to people like Daniel has led to nearly $1.5 million in donations to help fund the expansion.

“To put it into scale, our County as a whole is 7,000 people and so you know everybody has been so generous,” Daniel’s father Andre Lacoursiere said. “To bring a county together with a population as small as this, to pull off a project like this, is amazing.”

READ MORE: Lethbridge College students seek more mental health services in January, February: official

The 1,300 square meter expansion will provide space for eight physicians, which doubles current capacity. It will also include a medical clinic, physio and rehab space and an adult day support program.

“Shifting to wellness is a long term investment and this is the investment in that wellness piece,” Vulcan County Health and Wellness Foundation, Chair Scott Mitchell said. “Make sure that we are current with preventative health and you need space to be able to execute programming on and that’s what it’s all about.”

If the expansion didn’t happen, site facilitator Brenda Findlay believes the community could have lost the hospital.

“The real motivator behind this was our lab,” Findlay said. “When it doesn’t meet accreditation standards, then they’ll shut us down. If we don’t have a lab, we don’t have a hospital.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The real motivator behind this was our lab," Findlay said. "When it doesn't meet accreditation standards, then they'll shut us down. If we don't have a lab, we don't have a hospital."

Now that the future of the health centre is secured, Daniel can feel more secure in his family’s future, too.

“Now, having a child of my own and having that hospital within 40 minutes of where I live I can be here quick in case of an emergency,” Daniel Lacoursiere said. “And I know a lot of guys can get in here quick if they have to.”

The Vulcan Community Health Centre expansion is expected to be finished in 18 months.