A government health centre in the West End has reopened and been renamed in honour of a “ground-breaking” Bermudian nurse and educator.

More than 60 people attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Alice Scott Health Centre, formerly the Mangrove Bay Health Centre, this morning.

The facility, which will accommodate a range of services on a rotating schedule, is expected to welcome its first patients since 2017 on October 5.

Kim Wilson, the Minister of Health, thanked the West End community for their patience.

She added: “For too long West End residents have had to travel outside their community to access important health services.

“Now this facility brings essential care closer to the people who need it.”

Ms Wilson said: “I’m very happy, and I’m glad that I was able to see this project through to its completion, because I live in the Somerset community and as I canvass and as I talk to people they are saying, when’s the clinic going to open?

“It’s been a long time coming and the people of the West End deserve to have access and they have been very patient, for that I’m grateful.”

She said last year that a leaky roof, mould and other problems led the Government to close the clinic in 2017.

The revived clinic boasts a health office, dental suite, hygiene laboratory and exam rooms, interview area and a medical examination room, as well as a vaccine and isolation room, reception, waiting area and washrooms.

Services will include oral health, well baby visits and immunisations, physical, occupational and speech language therapy, sexual and reproductive health, adult wellness clinics and integrated mental health services in partnership with the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute.

Attendees heard how Alice Scott was born in 1887, to a family whose roots stretched back to enslavement.

In 1912, she became one of the first Bermudians to qualify as a registered nurse after graduating from Lincoln Hospital in New York — at the time Black nurses could not train or be hired by Bermuda hospitals.

Ms Scott operated Shady Rest Nursing Home, was a cofounder of Sandys Secondary School, helped secure women the right to vote, ran for Parliament herself and received a British Empire Medal.

“We will honour a woman who understood the value of community-based care long before we ever used those words,” Ms Wilson told the crowd.

“A woman who believed that caring for people was not just a profession, it was a responsibility and a calling.

“Her name is Alice Scott, a ground-breaking nurse, pioneering educator, suffragette and trailblazing political figure.

“Alice Scott dedicated her whole life to building a fairer Bermuda.”

She added: “Undeterred, she returned home and spent years serving as a midwife and private duty nurse, delivering countless babies in Somerset.

Applause broke out when Ms Wilson told attendees: “From this day forward, this facility will be known as the Alice Scott Health Centre, in honour of a life dedicated to caring for others.”

Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch, Ms Scott’s great nephew, said the family was so “deeply honoured and pleased”.

“She was an amazing woman who set the standard for public service in our family,” he added.

The project involved renovating and expanding the existing facility. Where possible, the original Bermuda stone walls were retained.

Jaché Adams, the Minister of Public Works and Environment, told the people of Somerset that the clinic represents a “promise made” and “promise kept”.

He said: “This clinic is yet another example of this government investing in Bermuda’s infrastructure and, in particular, delivering tangible improvements for the residents in the west of the island.

“In recent years we have reconstructed the retaining wall at Scaur Hill, carried out important work at Watford Bridge, repaired safety railings along Cambridge Road and recently completed renovations on the Somerset Post Office.

“Today, we can add the reopening of the Mangrove Bay clinic to that list.”

He added: “Yes, we know there is still more work to do. But whether it is strengthening a retaining wall, maintaining a bridge, improving road safety or restoring a community health clinic, our focus remains on steadily improving the infrastructure that serves our people.”

Mr Adams said: “This is, at least from my ministry’s perspective, what the people have been asking for — investment in our critical infrastructure.

“It took us roughly a year to get to this point, I say a year from the perspective of renovations.

“Certainly, discussions and planning took much longer than that.”

Asked why it took so long to reopen the centre, the minister said: “There are a number of reasons, but I think ultimately what we’re here celebrating is that those days are over.

“We are now here and we are focusing on demonstrating to the public that we’ve heard their cries and calls and we’ve actually done something about it.”