In addition to the money coming from the province to build its new state-of-the-art building, the Children’s Treatment Center of Chatham-Kent received an unexpected boost Thursday.
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Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, the province’s minister of children, community and social services, joined Kinga Surma, Ontario’s infrastructure minister, to announce the center will receive an extra $842,525 for its operating budget to help meet the growing demand for its services.
“The team here at Chatham-Kent is incredibly dedicated and passionate, and I’m very, very grateful for the work that they do to support children and families across Ontario,” Fullerton said.
She added the work done in Chatham-Kent is “directly and positively impacting children and their families.”
Donna Litwin-Makey, the centre’s executive director, was appreciative of this “incredible” bump-up to its operating budget.
She said the new funding puts the operating budget at $5 million, allowing the center to hire more therapists and see more children to address its growing wait list for services, which includes providing more school-based rehabilitation.
The local center is one of three new children’s treatment centers the Ontario government has committed to building across the province as part of a four-year, $240-million funding commitment for early intervention and rehabilitation services.
Fullerton said it was a privilege to announce the government is funding a “new state-of-the-art building for the children’s treatment center at Chatham-Kent.”
“We know that demand for services continues to grow and we are pleased to be supporting this project, which will bring wrap-around services together under one roof for children and families,” she said.
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Litwin-Makey said the specific funding from the province for the new roughly 5,100-square-metre (55,000-square-foot) building is still to be determined since the multi-million cost has fluctuated due to such factors as the COVID-19 pandemic .
She noted the province is “going to get it built.”
“It’s going to be based on need. It’s going to be based on doing the right thing for Chatham-Kent.”
Surma said the pandemic has been challenging for Ontarians, “especially for the families affected by disabilities, particularly when in-person learning and recreational programs cannot take place and when therapy centers cannot operate in the way, leaving many parents to worry about the developmental progress of their child or children.”
“The pandemic has shown us that there is no time to wait, these investments are needed and they are needed now,” she said.
The local children’s treatment center provides services to more than 3,500 children and youth with special needs. These services include occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech-language pathology, autism services, audiology, respite services, services for children and youth with multiple and complex special needs, and those impacted by fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
“Families express that they do not know where they would be without the Children’s Treatment Center of Chatham-Kent because it has had such a huge, positive impact on their child’s function and development,” Litwin-Makey.
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Beth Cummings, chair of the centre’s board building subcommittee, said the center relies on ministry funding to support a lot of the great work the staff and team does, “and this is just another great example of how that support helps us move forward.”
She said the facility is aging and there are accessibility standards not being met.
“The new build will actually offer us a lot of functional space to accommodate growing services, a lot more space for programs for teams and families and specialty clinics,” she said.
Michael Grail, chair of the Children’s Treatment Center of Chatham-Kent Foundation, shared his family’s story about son Carson, who was born 19 years ago with brain damage, and the worries about his future when medical professionals were unsure if he would walk, talk or have any sense of normalcy.
Noting Carson began receiving therapy when he was just three months old, “It was through the center that we saw our son improve, get stronger and build confidence,” Grail said.
“Nineteen years later, we are watching him ride a bicycle, play hockey for a travel team, fish and do all the things we once thought were impossible.”
Grail said Chatham-Kent residents continue to support the center in various ways.
“They have understood the need for this new centre, knowing that increased capacity will allow for expanded programs, increased frequency of visits and taking kids off wait lists so they can finally receive the services they so desperately need,” he said.