The Seekers Centre for Integrative Medicine can now be found in a new modern clinic space at 942 Merivale Road. Located near major hospitals and just south of the Westboro neighborhood, it has been completely renovated to provide a healthy healing space for our patients and staff.

This project was undertaken in partnership with Stantec, a major construction consulting firm that has built hospitals, airports and office buildings across Canada. We chose to work with a large, established firm to increase their knowledge and skill in healthy construction in future projects. Our environmental consultants included Paul Battle and Stephen Collette, independent ‘house doctors’ who have specialized skills in the field of Bau-Biology. This discipline, born in Germany in the 1950s, is about designing and building spaces that promote human health at home and work.

There were several aspects of this project that received special attention in order to make the clinic healthier for patients, practitioners and staff. They include:

• Hard-wired internet throughout the building to eliminate exposure to Wi-Fi and other electromagnetic fields
• More light fixtures to allow for incandescent lighting instead of fluorescent light bulbs, which create harmful magnetic fields and contain mercury
• A large skylight to increase natural light in patient areas
• Purified air from a central air exchange system that goes beyond HEPA to filter out fine particulate matter from car exhaust
• Design and layout according to the principles of Feng Shui to promote calm, well-being and happiness
• Purified drinking water that is ionized, filtered and mineralized
• Nontoxic glues, paints, floors, furniture, walls and ceilings that do not emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or other airborne chemicals or pollutants

We put a lot of work into creating a space that promotes health and well-being. This will be for the benefit of all our patients and staff, but will be particularly appreciated by our patients with cancer, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and other conditions that make some people hypersensitive to synthetic chemicals and other allergens. We hope that this serves as an example for larger construction projects in the city so that there are fewer major workplaces in Ottawa that contribute to the growing problem of sick building syndrome.

We look forward to seeing you in our new home.