{"id":18196,"date":"2019-09-25T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=18196"},"modified":"2019-09-25T06:31:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T13:31:38","slug":"camosun-officially-opens-alex-jo-campbell-centre-for-health-and-wellness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2019\/09\/25\/camosun-officially-opens-alex-jo-campbell-centre-for-health-and-wellness\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun officially opens Alex & Jo Campbell Centre for Health and Wellness"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, September 11, Camosun College officially opened the Alex & Jo Campbell Centre for Health and Wellness. The four-storey, 95,000-square-foot building will house 15 health and human service disciplines and University Transfer health courses for over 1,000 students. The total cost of the building was $63.8 million ($40.3 million from the provincial government, $11 million from Camosun, $50,000 over five years from the Camosun College Student Society [CCSS], and money from various donors).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The building was given Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Standard certification. LEED certification\u2014given by an independent third party\u2014is an internationally recognized green building certification, with gold being the highest status awarded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Camosun School of Health and Human Services dean Cynthia Smith says that conversations about the building started 30 years ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe government recognized the need for new infrastructure in health and human services,\u201d says Smith.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Members of the Lekwungen Dancers, a Songhees Nation dance group, at the opening of the new building (photo by Adam Marsh\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The programs housed in the building were previously at Lansdowne; Smith says that the college made sure to communicate with students early on\u2014back in April\u2014so that they would have time to prepare for their transition to Interurban.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs dean and working with the college, I\u2019ve tried to make sure that there\u2019s no unpleasant surprises for students, that they\u2019re aware of the fact that all but the two dental programs [in the School of Health and Human Services] would be moving to Interurban.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Camosun president Sherri Bell said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony that the building will sell itself, and that Camosun is a major player for health and human services on Vancouver Island. The Centre, she said, will take the college to the next level.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe will educate the next generation of health professionals and help raise the health outcomes in our community,\u201d said Bell. \u201cThe government of BC has recognized the importance of that vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saanich South MLA Lana Popham said at the ceremony that this is an important day for Camosun College and for the greater community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Alex & Jo Campbell Centre for Health and Wellness is a remarkable addition to the Interurban campus,\u201d said Popham. \u201cWe are here to celebrate its official opening with a sense of pride in what it means to students and what it means to people of our entire region.\u201d<\/p>\n

CCSS external executive Fillette Umulisa says that the student society is really happy with the Centre and thinks that it is a well-designed and modern building.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to serve Health and Human Services members very well for many years to come,\u201d she says. \u201cWe appreciate the fact that these new developments are coming to our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The building was originally going to be built closer to the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence, but the CCSS campaigned to get it closer to the other Camosun buildings, while staying on the same lot. Umulisa says that the CCSS is happy with the placement of the building.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were mostly concerned about accessibility for new students and things like parking,\u201d says Umulisa. \u201cWe were concerned, but they listened. At this point, having looked at the building, and the accessibility to that building, we\u2019re pretty much happy, and we do really appreciate the low environmental footprint that constructing that building kind of focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camosun Health and Human Services student Colleen Leppkey-Robertson said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony that, when coming out of high school, the thought of going back to school was \u201ctoo much to bear.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLife has forced me, like many of my classmates, to overcome hardships, struggles, and sacrifices,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were times when I had all but given up and lost hope\u2026 Although it took a while to see it, I learned that I wasn\u2019t alone, and with time, and the help and support of so many in my life\u2026 I began to understand that inspiration comes from pain and that pain can be a motivator for change. Camosun was that change for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leppkey-Robertson said that students are capable of holding both their weight and the weight of future goals through using the lessons they\u2019ve learned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery experience we have [in college] becomes a marker we have along the way showing us where we have been, where we are, and where we\u2019re going,\u201d she said. \u201cCamosun hasn\u2019t only given myself and so many others the opportunity to pursue a career, but it has also built a solid foundation for our dreams, relationships, and beliefs to rest on. This building now, too, sits upon that same foundation.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, September 11, Camosun College officially opened the Alex & Jo Campbell Centre for Health and Wellness. The four-storey, 95,000-square-foot building will house 15 health and human service disciplines and University Transfer health courses for over 1,000 students. The total cost of the building was $63.8 million ($40.3 million from the provincial government, $11 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,240],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-september-25-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18196"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18198,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18196\/revisions\/18198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}