Search is on for a new home for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit

The public health unit in Windsor-Essex is searching for a new home.

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) is leaving the building on Ouellette Avenue with plans to set up in a new space before the end of 2023. 

This week, the health unit launched a community survey as part of the planning for the new site.

CEO Nicole Dupuis said they hope to learn what's important to their clients and partners — factors such as parking, transit access, the building environment itself and accessibility.

She said the organization's space needs have evolved with the services public health offers.

"So for example, we do have the Ontario seniors' dental care program, so that quite expanded our needs as it relates to dental space," she said. "As well...I'm sure everyone's thinking about the way we work, how we use office space, certainly given the pandemic. So those were some considerations as well that we were looking at as it relates to our space needs."

In addition to dental programs for seniors as well as children, the organization offers other services including food handler training, breastfeeding support, tuberculosis testing, dental services for children and seniors, and smoking cessation support.

One vision for the new space is to have all of the clients' services located on the same floor, Dupuis said.

But there's no guarantee that the organization, which serves some vulnerable populations in the community, will be staying downtown.

Dupuis said that they are looking at several priority areas, of which downtown is one, and will be weighing factors such as their needs of their clients and transit access in determining where the site will be located.

When asked about the expense of leasing a new space amid an uptick in the local real estate market, Dupuis said cost is always a concern but it's something WECHU is preparing for as part of the process.

At the same time that the organization is looking for a new office, it's also in the process of establishing a supervised consumption site amid the opioid crisis.

Dupuis said WECHU is considering offering that service in the same place as the new building.

The community survey is available here.