With a snip of eight pairs of scissors, the new two-story Ruth Dare Health Clinic officially opened for business.

About 150 people crowded into the nursing station ahead of the ribbon-cutting to celebrate the opening of the building, built with funding from local and upper level governments, residents and cottagers, and $210,000 from the family of cottager and Dare Foods founder Carl Dare.

“This is certainly a memorable day,” said Robert Clubbe, chair of fundraising for the project. The dream of having a nursing station began in 2000-2001, and here we are, seven years later, after a great deal of work by a great deal of people.”

The 3,000-square-foot building replaces an aging 56-square-foot trailer the nursing station operated out of since 2003.

“I will fondly remember the days when I had to take my axe out of my car and chip the ice off the door to get into work,” said nurse practitioner Donna Kearney. “Those stories are done now, and we’re on to bigger and better things. It’s thanks to the tenacity of the people in the community that we have this building.”

The new building, with an inviting lobby with plush furniture and dark wooden trims, has rear windows looking over Lake Rosseau through the trees, a stark contrast to the trailer, which is no longer on the site.

“I just want to remark, initially, how impressed I was coming in this morning with the enthusiasm that permeated, even with the parking attendants on the way in,” said Jim Beatty, chair of the West Parry Sound Health Centre, which operates the station. “The roots go back some eight years ago, 2000, when a dream was established to have a nursing station here.

“The people of Rosseau, and certainly of the West Parry Sound Health Centre – to say no to them is simply not acceptable,” Beatty said. “This facility is much more than bricks and mortar. It represents a true opportunity to offer health care services for the community, in the community, by the community. To me, that’s what health care is all about.”