March 17, 2023 3:15 a.m.

The Elkton Community Education Center will host a dedication and open house for their new building to house wellness services.

It will take place Saturday April 1st beginning at 9:00 a.m. with tours for the public until 12:00 p.m. An ECEC release said the new 1,100 square-foot-building, was designed and constructed in part by students who completed the organization’s summer Youth Employment Program. It offers a model for rural communities to provide greater access to care in medically underserved areas. The release said the new building serves a critical need in the region for connecting residents with healthcare services, while also providing flexible space for other community activities.

The building includes: a 460-square foot, multi-use conference room equipped with presentation and conferencing technology, 5 ADA accessible, gender-neutral bathrooms, including 2 with roll-in showers, and indoor storage space. The conference room allows 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 and Science University, Aviva Health and the Roseburg Family Medical Residency program. Funding from the Ralph W. Naito MD Foundation also secured an AmeriCorps RARE member to conduct community outreach, organize an initial round of services and develop a sustainable funding model for the wellness initiative’s ongoing programming. Building construction was funded by the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust, The Ford Family Foundation and local donors.