New location on Westmount Road in Waterloo allows for more clinic services
On Feb. 20, the SHORE Centre announced on Instagram that they would be opening a new location at 50 Westmount Road North in Waterloo on Mar. 4.
Serving the Waterloo Region for 50 years, the SHORE Centre offers “reproductive rights focused, sex-positive, inclusive and accessible non-judgemental support.”
“The demand for services in Waterloo Region has grown,” said Kayla Orr, Executive Director of the SHORE Centre. The current space on King Street East, in Kitchener, only has one clinic room, said Orr. “We haven’t been able to respond to that demand adequately. This new space will take us up to four exam rooms and will allow us to scale our services to better meet the needs of the region.”
As mentioned in the Instagram post announcing the expansion, the opening of the Westmount Road office aligns with the SHORE Centre’s “mission to empower individuals through comprehensive, compassionate, and inclusive care.”
This expansion also allows for expanded services. Medication abortion, pap tests, pelvic exams, birth control consultations and insertions and removals of contraception methods like IUD’s will be available.
“There are also plans in the works to be able to expand our services to encompass gender affirming care,” said Orr.
Acquisition of the space took place through a community partnership with the Westmount Place Pharmasave.
“We were able to work with [Westmount Place Pharmasave] to take over occupancy of [the space] in a pilot for how we’re going to continue to deliver services,” said Orr.
While the university features their own healthcare services through the Wellness Centre, Orr states that the SHORE Centre works with both universities to “ensure that students are directed to where they’re going to receive the care that they need.”
For current patients of the SHORE Centre, the shift in location will only impact those who utilize the Centre’s clinical services.
“All of our counseling services and our administrative and education team will remain at our location in Kitchener. Only people coming in from medical appointments will be impacted by this move,” said Orr.
The SHORE Centre’s main office at 235 King Street East in Kitchener will remain open. For more information, visit @shorecentrewr on Instagram.