The Georgina Post article published January 21, 2022
By Mike Anderson
Clinic Director Beth Cowper-Fung and her GNPLC staff were literally jumping for joy after Health Georgina Chair Steve Jacobson officially handed over the keys last week to their new building at 21071 Dalton Rd. in Jackson’s Point.
“We’re just so excited to be in the new building,” said Cowper-Fung. “This has been a long time coming.”
“We’re getting back into a state-of-the-art medical facility, which is amazing for the Town, as there’s been a long history of healthcare on this site. Dr. George Burrows was our consulting physician when we first took over in 2011; he stayed on with us pretty much until the day he passed.”
While the building’s outer shell, which Kenstruct Ltd. began constructing last April, has been completed, the interior renovations, funded by a $1.6 million provincial grant, will start next week and are slated to be finished by August.
Barrie-based Bertram Construction Ltd. was awarded the contract after submitting the lowest of four bids.
Health Georgina provided the initial $1.3 million for the building’s construction.
But skyrocketing material costs during the pandemic forced the volunteer-run, not-for-profit organization to seek donations from the community, with residents contributing $220,000 to the project so far.
“It’s very exciting, very gratifying to see this come to fruition,” Jacobson said. “There’s a lot of people in the community to thank.”
“I’d also like to thank the Town of Georgina for working with us to get it done and giving us back a fair amount of funds that we paid in fees. There were also a lot of local people who worked pro bono. And, of course, I had a great team who were extremely dedicated.”