A new health center and an adjoining senior housing project are scheduled to open on Peaks Island by mid-May. The two projects are located at 85 Central Avenue. The Casco Bay Health Center is currently located in an older building, which office manager Jill Tiffany says has been difficult and costly to maintain.

“It [the new health center] will be a bit larger and it will be located in a building that doesn’t leak,” said Tiffany recently. “In terms of health care, it won’t be any different.”

Tiffany said the same two nurse practitioners (NPs) that currently staff the existing health center will continue to provide primary and acute care services for Peaks Island residents. She clarified that the health center staff will also continue to perform lab work both for their own patients and for patients who have their physicians elsewhere.

Tiffany explained that the Casco Bay Health Center is an extension of Dr. Jeffrey Martin’s practice. She said that he travels to the health center from Windham once a month. She added that a podiatrist also provides services at the center every 3 months and a dental hygienist provides services there once each month. According to Tiffany, the new health center will have three exam rooms, a dental room, a lab room, a reception area, a waiting area and a play area for children. The new building will be located in an area of the island that is close to markets and restaurants. It will also adjoin the new senior housing project, the planning of which was what prompted the health center board to consider raising funds for a new health center at the same time.

“It was an opportunity that presented itself,” said Tiffany. “The two boards got together and began talking about getting a new health center because many of the patients are elderly residents.” Tiffany estimates that the health center staff currently provide services to between 200 and 300 patients per year who make 600 to 700 visits each year to the center.

“Our summer population is very different from the rest of the year. The population here is close to 1,000 but rumor has it that it’s around 5,000 during the summer,” she said. “During the summer we’ll be open four days per week, usually from 8 AM until 12 or 1 PM. The rest of the year we’ll be open two days each week from 8 AM until the last patient is seen, which could be 1:00 or 2:00 or 4:00 PM.”

Tiffany said that the health center is costly to run and doesn’t see enough patients to sustain a fulltime medical practice. So the health center board assumes responsibility for the utility bills at the center and supplements the salaries of the health center staff through fundraising.

A separate board has raised funds for the new senior housing project, which will consist of 11 independent living apartments for seniors and one apartment for a resident director. There will also be a laundry room and a handicap-accessible community room (with a kitchen and lounge) within the complex.

The program expansion director for Volunteers of America (VOA), Julia Wilcock, explained that the senior project was initiated in response to a request from a grassroots group on Peaks Island. The group contacted the city of Portland in the 1990s about the need for senior housing on the island. Then city officials contacted VOA, who had helped with other housing projects.

“The reason that the project was started was because there was no alternative for seniors to remain on the island. Sometimes it’s hard for the elderly to maintain their home,” explained Wilcock. “The only alternative was for them to leave the island to obtain other housing more appropriate for them.”

Wilcock said that the economy also influenced their decision to build an affordable senior housing project on Peaks Island. “As time went on, with taxes increasing all over the state, the economy continued to play a role,” she said. “That’s why senior housing is important, not just on Peaks Island, but in a lot of areas.”

According to Wilcock, this will be the first government-subsidized housing complex on any of the islands that is strictly for seniors. All applicants must be both 62 years or older and income eligible to be considered.