Making a health clinic stand out in a shopping mall is a team effort.

The Ridge Meadows Wellness Centre is a partnership between Fraser Health Authority, Ridge Meadows Division of Family Practice and Katzie First Nation. The clinic spans 8300SF in Haney Place Mall. Here, 3 types of patient care have made their home: Urgent Primary Care (UPCC), Primary Community Care (PCC), and Allied Care (Wellness). But these groups are more than just neighbours. They’ve collaborated and taken on a team-based care system. Within patient areas are spaces for staff to collaborate. And even further interaction is encouraged via the large therapy room, which is suitable for cultural practices such as smudging ceremonies, drumming, and ceremony circles. The clinic also includes 12 exam rooms, 3 consultation rooms, and a rehab area for physical/occupational therapy.

Keeping their focus on community wellness in a time when health is a global priority.

Succeeding the Surrey Urgent Primary Care Centre (UPCC), the Port Moody UPCC continues their provincial mission of unified urgent and primary care even as they help fight the spread of COVID. As a result, this facility was designed with flexibility in mind, fit to fulfill both the medical and mental wellness needs of the city’s vulnerable population. A large multi-purpose Therapy Room/Educational Space can function dually as a COVID testing space. The waiting area responds to distancing guidelines and incorporates screens between group seating into its design.

British Columbia is in the process of transitioning its health system to a unified system of team-based primary and community care.

Local centres will deliver services to people who need them, by the right provider at the right time. The Ministry of Health approved the funding for this program in December 2017. And Surrey was selected as the first of its kind in this new approach to care. Surrey Urgent Primary Care Centre services the North Surrey/Whalley area. The target patients are the most vulnerable part of the local population – people who have no doctor. Many of these people may also have mental health issues. Currently they may seek help at a shelter – or they may not get treatment at all. The proposed Urgent Primary Care Centre will provide the residents of Surrey timely access to primary care services in response to an urgent need.

Our prescription for a rather drab, existing 1000SF of space currently used for ultrasound scanning? Colour.

And lot of it. The new layout provides 4 scanning rooms, an improved staff work area, and 2 shared washrooms – one within the original space and another in an adjacent space. As the facility is for children, the scanning room is designed to provide a comfortable environment to help children feel relaxed and safe. The traditional clinical look is anything but this. So we filled the room with colour to help make it feel friendly.

The result? A space that is both memorable and welcoming for families.