New Grandview Kids medical tratment centre opens in Ajax

The New Grandview Kids Jerry Coughlan Building has opened its doors in Ajax to serve more than 6,000 children and youth with physical, communication and developmental needs.

Grandview Kids has been Durham Region’s only non-profit children’s treatment centre since its 1953 founding. The centre focuses on specialized treatment an outpatient care for with developmental challenges.

The new Jerry Coughlan building has been in the works since May 2021 when Grandview partnered with Infrastructure Ontario. The organizations formed the Children First Consortium, a group of designers, builders and financial advisors to over see the project.

Grandview Kids described the facility as “an open, welcoming and inclusive community-based pediatric facility, offering an integrated mix of rehabilitation, medical and clinical services, as well as education and research activities.”

“Building on the exceptional talent and skillset of Team Grandview’s physicians, leadership, clinicians, administrative and support staff, the new, larger, fully accessible facility will enable Grandview Kids to expand and enhance existing services and introduce new ones, better meeting the rapidly growing demand of its community,” the non-profit continued.

The new location combines the earlier Oshawa-based main site and several smaller satellite offices into a single facility. They’re set to offer a wide variety of treatment programs to the 10,000 kids they treat including:

• Centre-based rehabilitation services
  • occupational therapy
  • physiotherapy
  • speech-language pathology
  • recreation therapy
  • audiology
  • infant hearing
  • blind-low vision
  • social work
• Ontario Autism Program (OAP)
• Preschool Outreach Program (POP)
• School-Based Rehabilitation (SBR)
• Developmental Paediatricians and specialized medical services, including a Paediatric Complex Care Program
• Family/caregiver resources and support
• Grandview School

The project was largely funded by the Governments of Canada, Ontario and Durham Region as well as Grandview Kids itself. The centre’s namesake, home builder and philanthropist Jerry Coughlan, contributed $5 million.

Coughlan founded his company in 1958 building homes in Ajax, East York, Pickering and Scarborough. He was also a big gold fan, spearheading the creation of Glen Cedars Golf Club in Pickering, Deer Creek Golf & Banquet Facility, and Salem Ridge Golf Academy in Ajax.

Over his 60 years in business, Coughlan donated millions to local health programs such as the Ajax-Pickering Hospital, the Lakeridge Hospital Foundation,  and Grandview Kids. He died on Feb. 24, 2021.

In the wake of Coughlan’s death, Ajax Mayor Shaun Collier said, “Durham Region lost a legend. Jerry Coughlan was a great man; well known as a construction pioneer, and truly a hero to many through his philanthropic work.”

Grandview Kids’ new headquarters formally opened on Nov. 15 in an event attended by numerous local political figures. These included Ajax MP and Federal Health Minister Mark Holland, Ajax MPP Patrice Barnes, Pickering-Uxbridge MPP and Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy among others.

During the event, Grandview Kids CEO Tom McHugh said his organization “has long-awaited the day we would open our new, state-of-the-art headquarters. After years of steadfast advocacy – campaigning for a new facility that could better respond to our community’s growing needs – we are proud to have achieved this monumental milestone.”

“We are grateful to our government partners for their ongoing support and investment in this project. The New Grandview Kids is a beacon of hope, excellence, belonging and discovery,” he continued, “This new space will enable Grandview Kids to enhance and expand existing services and introduce new ones, serving children and youth with communication, physical and developmental needs throughout the Durham Region for generations to come.”