Ceremony Kicks Off Construction for Dennis Health Center (Video)

The Dennis Avenue Health Center, currently housed in a 50-year old building that once served as an elementary school, will get a new home when construction on the County’s newest health project is completed in 2015.

MyMCMedia’s Valerie Bonk has the story on the groundbreaking ceremony that kicks off construction on Dennis Avenue in Silver Spring.

It’s the first new health facility to be built in Montgomery County in 20 years and some say it’s long overdue.

“You worked, provided leadership, dedication and commitment in inadequate facilities and we apologize for that but I know that you did it not just because it’s a job but because you were helping a very very important sector of our community,” said Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett.

County officials gathered under a tent in Silver Spring for a groundbreaking ceremony to officially kick off construction on the new 55,000 square foot Dennis Avenue Health Center.

“The air handling doesn’t work well and we’re dealing constantly with people with infectious diseases and other issues and you know the medications are kept over here so if the heat and the cooling doesn’t work just right then the medications are at risk,” said Uma Ahluwalia, Director of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services. “We’re just delighted that everybody recognized that we needed a new building and it’s underway.”

The Dennis Avenue Health Center staff sees close to 75,000 patient visits each year and handles one of every 150 cases of Tuberculosis in the United States.

“It will be a great new modern facility. The facility inside, it’s good, but it’s dated and especially the HVAC system is pretty inadequate,” said Dr. Thomas Walsh, the Retired Medical Director of the County’s Tuberculosis Control Program. “On cold winter days it doesn’t do the job and on humid hot summer days it just doesn’t do the job. So many spots in the building are really hard to work in.”

About Valerie Bonk

Valerie Bonk is a multimedia reporter and community engagement specialist with Montgomery Community Media (MCM).

View all posts by Valerie Bonk