Health centre named after former premier Ed Stelmach opens in southeast Edmonton

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the opening of the Stelmach Community Health Centre.

The Stelmach Community Health Centre will now be accepting patients in southeast Edmonton following a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday afternoon.

Named after former premier and board member of Covenant Health Ed Stelmach and his wife Marie, the facility aims to shift Alberta’s health system from hospital-reliant care to an integrated model.

“It’s certainly an unexpected honour, definitely a privilege to have a building named after the family,” said Stelmach in an interview ahead of the ceremony. “Its hard to find the words because it’s not something that I ever expected in my own political life at all.”

Stelmach served as a board member for Covenant Health for 12 years, retiring late last year.

Several outpatient clinics and services have been relocated from the Grey Nuns Community Hospital to the Stelmach centre, including primary care, outpatient clinics, diagnostic imaging and other medical services in an effort to increase capacity for emergency and acute care services.

“Grey Nuns is a great facility, (but) it’s overwhelmed by the volume of services it’s trying to provide,” said Patrick Dumeile, Covenant Health’s CEO. “Our vision was really (to) move things out of the hospital that would be better situated in community, and then integrate them into a one-stop shop.”

The facility is part of Covenant’s Wellness Community that will integrate the Stelmach centre with residential housing, seniors’ continuing care, commercial retail spaces and more in one location.

Dumelie described the facility as a “health-care mall,” where patients can access multiple services in one convenient place.

Covenant Health purchased the land in 2017.

The overall cost of the project is estimated at $250 million, which is funded by Covenant Health.