By Steph McNicol
A $3.5 million redevelopment of Nexus Primary Health in Broadford will expand its services to cater for Mitchell Shire’s growing population.
The renovation will provide services for the community with more than 20 spaces available for health practice.
Nexus chief executive Suzanne Miller said the renovation recognised the need for increased services in the community.
“We need much more consulting spaces for the population growth and to make it an absolute state-of-the-art health service building,” Ms Miller said.
“It builds in technology, some really specific spaces for kids and for our staff. It recognises that this community needs more access to a variety of different services.”
The re-construction of the building will mean a renovation of the interior and an extension of the west side of the building.
Ms Miller said there would be an increase in access to services, and more of them, after the building is complete at the end of June, 2020.
For now, Nexus will provide services from Broadford Allied Health, at 81 High Street.
“We know that children’s allied health, speech pathology, occupational therapy and counselling, is really important so they have their own area,” Ms Miller said.
“We also have a community space which includes a therapeutic gym area so that we can do more exercise based work as well.
“We have general practice at the front of the building so there is ambulance access.
“There are also consultation spaces, for anything from physiotherapy to counselling or financial counselling.”
The new space will aim to create a more welcoming atmosphere for people seeking health services.
“The architects have focused a lot on creating a calming environment; they used a lot of greenery to make it feel natural, rather than making it look like a health clinic,” asset and infrastructure manager Briony Gatt said.
“When children come through to a building it can be quite daunting, if they know they’re there to receive therapy – but we’re trying to make it as fun and as comfortable as possible.
“As well as for our staff because we have to make sure they’re happy in their working environment, because it gives them the tools they require to do their job.”
Ms Miller said the redevelopment recognised the changes of Nexus since its beginning.
“I think this represents how much Nexus has changed in let’s say the last half a dozen years in particular,” she said.
“We began 40 years ago as a tiny little service and now we work across a huge geography doing lots of different services.
“We had our highest revenue ever last year and we saw more people than ever before and once we’ve got space, we’ll be able to see more people than ever before.
“We’ll have about 20 spaces we can work with clients which is crazy because we have five at the moment.”
For anyone interested in the services Nexus provide, call 1300 773 352 to speak to a health professional.