March 30, 2023 10:25 a.m.  

Elkton Community Education Center is set to open its new building to house wellness services.

A dedication and open house will be held on Saturday. The event will begin with a short ceremony at 9:00 a.m. Tours for the public will continue until 12:00 p.m. The new 1,100 square foot building, designed and constructed in part by students who completed the organization’s summer Youth Employment Program, provides a model for rural communities to provide greater access to care in medically underserved areas.

A release said the building will serve a critical need in the region for connecting residents with healthcare services, while also providing flexible space for other community activities. It includes a 460-square foot, multi-use conference room equipped with presentation and conferencing technology, five ADA accessible, gender-neutral bathrooms, including two with roll-in showers, and indoor storage space. The conference room will allow ECEC to offer expanded site rental opportunities for a variety of uses and the bathrooms support the center’s new recreational field users and growing events programming.

Advisors for this project included staff from Oregon Health Science University, Aviva Health and the Roseburg Family Medical Residency program. Building construction was funded by the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust, The Ford Family Foundation and local donors.

ECEC Executive Director Marjory Hamann talked about this weekend’s event and the new facility on the Morning Conversation Thursday on News Radio 93-9 FM and 1240 KQEN. That interview is a KQEN Podcast at www.541radio.com