ELMSDALE: A first-of-its-kind wellness centre in Nova Scotia aimed at helping Veterans, including first responders, opened its doors to much fanfare on Monday morning in Elmsdale.
The Veteran Farmer, a national innovative wellness centre, provides comprehensive wellness support, medical cannabis access, and psychological programs for veterans and military personnel.
They say their mission is to help veterans and first responders navigate and access the resources needed to thrive, including assistance with getting injuries recognized by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) and facilitating access to a wide range of healthcare services.
The grand opening had a great turnout from the community.
There was even firefighters from Enfield; Lantz; Elmsdale; officers with East Hants RCMP; Councillors with the Municipality of East Hants (Norval Mitchell and Michael Perry); Kings Hants MP Kody Blois; and representatives from the East Hants & Districts Chamber of Commerce who stopped by to check the new facility out, and speak with founders Autumn and Lloyd Farmer.
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The Veteran Farmer, a not-for-profit organization, provides all their services at no cost, ensuring every veteran receives the support they deserve without any financial stress.
Both Autumn and Lloyd are from Nova Scotia. She’s a Waverley native, while Lloyd is from the South Shore.
In an interview with The Laker News, Autumn said the Elmsdale office—located in the former Strides gym was–has been in the making for a few years.
“It just took finding the right location,” said Autumn. “We’re very much a community service so we were really looking for a community to have good roots in, to have a good veteran population and easy access for all our veterans across Nova Scotia to come to.
“The Elmsdale office and what the community is offering felt like it was a good match up.”
She said the couple feel like it’s an up-and-coming community.
“The population, the veterans are RCMP, our first responders.
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She said The Veteran Farmer is a community support service, one that provides a variety of services from our veterans for all our veterans.
Among that is assisting with their Veterans Affairs paperwork or they need access to a health practitioner, etc. They are open at 550 Hwy 2 in the MacMillan Centre in Elmsdale Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The Elmsdale office is their seventh office.
They host between three and six events per week.
“The idea is to provide them a nice, comfortable space to get together for whatever activity that they’re hosting,” said Autumn.
Autumn said The Veteran Farmer provides a good atmosphere and some fantastic staff in Elmsdale.
“They’ve been in place for three months now, so they really know what they’re doing,” she said. “They’re really excited to open up some and have some new programs at this office here.”
She added there’s more to come here too.
“In the next two months, we’ll have a nurse practitioner on staff. We’ll have our men’s erectile dysfunction clinic will be beginning. And we’ll also have a dietitian on staff,” said Autumn.”
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Autumn said it was exciting to see the turnout from the community on the grand opening day.
“It’s been a long time coming for us,” she said. “Like I said trying to find that right community atmosphere, so it’s a relief.”
The opening of the Elmsdale location also means they can focus on other projects in their bag.
“It’s a relief because right now we’re building a brand-new wellness center in New Brunswick by our head office,” she said. We’re going to start construction for that in the spring.”
“Now we can focus on construction and dealing with that project now that construction here is done.”
For more on The Veteran Farmer check out their website at: https://theveteranfarmer.ca/ and on Facebook at: search for The Veteran Farmer NS and you will find their profile).
