Taloyoak Community Health Centre

Taloyoak, NU

Taloyoak Community Health Centre

The front facade of the newly opened Taloyoak Health Centre.

Taloyoak Community Health Centre

Clerestory glazing brings natural light deep into the core of the building

Taloyoak Community Health Centre

Living room in one of the staff residences

Taloyoak Community Health Centre

Vibrant wall colours are used to activate corridors and serve as orienting and wayfinding devices

Taloyoak Community Health Centre

Adult Treatment and Observation Room

Taloyoak Community Health Centre

Taloyoak at midday in winter

Completed in 2015, this is the second of three Arctic health centres Nycum completed in partnership with Stantec for the Government of Nunavut. The building accommodates Health and Social Services program elements while providing onsite accommodations for the staff. This project demonstrates the complexity of designing for a northern climate, and the careful logistics and planning required to deliver the project successfully.

The Taloyoak Health Center is a central fixture and point of pride within the community, combining medical, public health, and social services under one roof. The facility provides a venue for full-time primary care, public health and emergency medical service, as well as visiting and telehealth specialist clinician services.

Medical services include child and adult treatment, maternity, exams, public health clinics, emergency treatment/ stabilization for med-evac patients, imaging/diagnostics, laboratory services, pharmacy, telehealth, and a morgue. Individual and group counselling services are offered by Community Health and Social Services professionals, while physician consultations, dental and eye services, psychological/psychiatric nursing, and physical therapy/rehabilitation are all provided through regularly scheduled specialists visits or remote telehealth connections.

The project faced two major challenges during the design stage. The first being to design and construct a modern, up-to-date health care facility in a small, remote community with no piped services or road connection. The second challenge was to provide a building that could be operated and maintained by community personnel with minimal support from regional centers. The design team (Stantec and Nycum) took these challenges into consideration along with other aspects such as ease of orientation, way finding, privacy, acoustics, comfort, daylight, and views and worked closely with the community to develop a successful healthcare facility program of which the community is proud.

Category: Healthcare

Top