Latest news with #walkinclinic
CBC
2 days ago
- Health
- CBC
This rural P.E.I. community took health care into its own hands. Now it has a thriving clinic
Social Sharing Back in 2017, when Lisa Gallant saw that thousands of people in her own community of Crapaud and the surrounding areas suddenly were without a family doctor, she knew she had to take action. That year, longtime family doctor Dr. Hendrik Visser retired after 32 years of practice in Crapaud. A new physician took over, but the practice proved untenable for one person, and he left the same year. "We had no primary health care, and we knew that something had to be done," Gallant told Island Morning host Mitch Cormier during the CBC radio show's remote broadcast from her community Thursday. Gallant, who is a pharmacist and owner of South Shore Pharmacy, joined forces with other local leaders to form the non-profit South Shore Health and Wellness Inc. They raised about $10,000 to establish a walk-in clinic, at the time located in what had been the pharmacy's kitchen, in January 2018. Today, that small walk-in has grown into the South Shore Health and Wellness Centre, which has undergone two expansions and is now in the middle of a third. Once the work is complete, the centre will span more than 5,000 sqare feet. "There were times where I thought 'This is never going to happen,'" she said. The centre now has a comprehensive care team, including a full-time physician, two full-time nurse practitioners, three licensed practical nurses, two part-time nurses specializing in chronic disease management, and a part-time physiotherapist. The latest expansion will allow for even more staff in the future. This is exactly the kind of collaborative, multidisciplinary primary-care model that Gallant and her group envisioned from the start, one that could meet the health-care needs of a growing rural population. But Gallant said the journey hasn't been easy; it took years of persistent advocacy with the provincial government. Now, they hope the success in Crapaud can be replicated in other rural communities across Prince Edward Island. Collaborative care 'the way forward' The concept of collaborative, team-based health care is now being embraced across P.E.I. There are currently 17 of what the government calls medical homes in the province. These clinics offer a wide range of services, with doctors collaborating with other health-care workers. They have been touted by the province as a way to alleviate pressure on the health-care system. But it's not a new idea. Visser, the retired doctor who has since returned to Crapaud, said he pitched the concept to the province years ago, inspired by his early career in Africa. "That is the way forward. We saw that effectively implemented in resource-poor countries in Africa, where six of us as physicians were able to manage a hospital the size of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, all with allied health professionals, midwives, primary health-care workers and nurses and lab and rehabilitation services — all under one roof, all interdisciplinary," Visser said. "We were able to serve a population of about two million people with rural health centres that we equipped to be in the communities, and we would then be the referral centre from those small clinics out in the community." Even in his own practice in Crapaud, Visser collaborated with a nurse for years. Together, they managed care for more than 2,000 patients. A vision finally realized Before retiring, Visser said he proposed a collaborative model for rural health care to the provincial government, but he said there wasn't much reception around the idea at the time. In the years after Visser's retirement, Gallant and her group continued pushing the idea, bringing proposals and presentations to meetings with Health P.E.I. and government officials. "We just heard 'no' so many times," she said. "We just felt that if we kept being consistent and never gave up, we would eventually reach our goals." In 2020, they met with then-premier Dennis King. "We came in armed with all of our documents and our proposals and all of our facts, ready to do battle," she said. "The premier looked at us and said, 'Yes, I agree with you. You should have a doctor. You should have primary health care in Crapaud.'" King later visited the clinic and committed to making it a collaborative practice with a physician involved. In July 2023, Dr. Meghan Cameron joined the clinic — the community's first family doctor in five years. In total, Gallant's group has invested more than $30,000 in clinic improvements and equipment over the years. 'They want to be here' Gallant said the community has gone from desperately needing practitioners to receiving inquiries from physicians and nurse practitioners interested in working at the Crapaud clinic. She credits not only the facility but also the team atmosphere. "Health-care professionals talk to each other, and the team here is so great. They're so collaborative and wonderful, dedicated professionals, and there's a really good morale at the clinic," Gallant said. "Other health-care practitioners hear that, and they want to be here." Her group also works hard to support the team with things like thank-you cards, baking, and small gifts to express appreciation, Gallant said. "Everyone is so thankful to have that care here. So it's important that the health-care providers feel that," she said. They also help with recruitment by touring candidates around the facility and community, as well as presenting baskets filled with local products. A model for other communities What's been built in Crapaud should serve as a model for other rural areas, Health Minister Mark McLane told CBC News at the remote broadcast. "Back to rural health care in the past, we used to have a single physician in an office," he said. "Now, with the collaborative-care model, there's more supports around those physicians and nurse practitioners to provide service, so we're not as reliant on one position in one area." McLane said lessons can be learned from the model in Crapaud. While a nice setup helps to attract physicians, he said community support for these health providers is also essential, and Crapaud has both. When asked whether Health P.E.I. has made hires to staff the clinic's expansion, McLane did not say yes. "We keep hiring, and again, we have so many positions within our system… You know, the provider chooses where they go," the minister said. McLane also noted that the federal government's loan forgiveness program, introduced last year for doctors and nurses, serves as another tool to attract health-care professionals to rural and remote areas. Meanwhile, some communities on P.E.I. are taking similar action to Crapaud's. A newly opened walk-in clinic in Montague, also located in a pharmacy, was made possible by a $200,000 fundraising effort from a local volunteer group. Green MLA Matt MacFarlane, who was part of the Crapaud clinic's board, said the burden of getting a clinic open shouldn't fall on communities. "It's government's job to deliver health care, to provide health care, and to get the 37,000 Islanders on the wait list for a doctor off that wait list," he said. "It shouldn't fall to volunteers who have full-time jobs — farmers, fishers, whatever — to have to come in on the little bit of time they have and spend six years advocating for health care and building a clinic up from scratch and then having the government just take the key and then say, 'OK, now we have a clinic.' That's government's job." 'It will be joyous' Albany resident Darlene Smith, a retired teacher, has been on the P.E.I. patient registry for six years. While she has relied on the virtual platform Maple for minor issues, Smith said she often hesitates to seek in-person care for fear of burdening the system. "It's a little stressful because you just don't know what to do." But with the expansion, and Gallant saying the clinic is accepting new patients weekly, Smith hopes she and her husband will soon get the call. "It will be joyous," she said. "It's not that we're unwell and that we need to go see a doctor, but just to have that peace of mind, to be able to call someone that's going to take care of you." Gallant said her group isn't done.
CBC
28-05-2025
- General
- CBC
New walk-in clinic in Montague called a big step toward better access to care in eastern P.E.I.
A new walk-in clinic has opened its doors in Montague. Residents of eastern P.E.I. hope it will be a game changer when it comes to opening doors to health care. CBC's Connor Lamont was given a tour of the new clinic.
CBC
28-05-2025
- General
- CBC
New walk-in clinic at Montague pharmacy aims to be open 3 times a week to start
A new walk-in clinic has opened in eastern P.E.I., and people in the area hope it can be the start of better health care in the region. The new permanent clinic is located in McKenna's PharmaChoice on Queens Road in Montague, just a stone's throw from Kings County's largest hospital. The doctors who staff it have full-time jobs elsewhere, but for now the clinic is aiming to offer opportunities to seek help from them three days a week, as their schedules permit. The clinic opened its doors last Thursday, and 20 patients received care. "It feels excellent. It was a lot of hard work and planning that went into it and [I'm] really excited to have it opened. It's going to be great for the community," said Chris McKenna, the pharmacist-owner at McKenna's PharmaChoice. "We even had people calling the next day saying they really appreciated it, it's great to have in the community — people with no family doctor." A long time coming The frequent closures of Kings County Memorial Hospital's emergency department in recent years due to physician and nurse shortages is what really got the ball rolling for a permanent walk-in clinic in the area. About two years ago, a volunteer group made up of the hospital foundation's staff and members of the Three Rivers community was formed to look at potential solutions. It's a drop in the bucket, but we need lots of drops in that bucket right now. — Volunteer Theresa Redmond A clinic run by McKenna was set up at the Down East Mall last December, but that was only ever meant to be a temporary space until the current location was ready. The volunteer group raised around $200,000 to renovate the space in the mall for the clinic, while Health P.E.I. also opened its own clinic right next door. 'One more tool in the toolbox' Ray Brow, vice-chair of the Kings County Memorial Hospital Foundation, said there was a "desperate need" for care, especially on weekends when the ER was closed. "We, in hindsight, did not know exactly what we were getting into because it turned out to be an enormous amount of work and an enormous amount of fundraising," Brow said. "We now see more services here in Three Rivers than when we started, and that was our objective." The volunteers are grateful to have the new permanent clinic to serve the area instead of patients needing to travel to the next closest emergency department, nearly 50 kilometres away at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown. "There's a really big need for primary care in Kings County, and this is going to be one more tool in the toolbox," said Theresa Redmond, a member of the volunteer board for the community clinic. "It's a drop in the bucket, but we need lots of drops in that bucket right now." Future of mall clinic space uncertain As for the clinic that was set up at the Down East Mall, Redmond and Brow are hoping Health P.E.I. will decide to take over that space too. If the agency does decide to expand there, it has promised to reimburse the KCMH Foundation for 75 per cent of the $200,000 the volunteer group raised. Health P.E.I. has not confirmed what its plans are for the space. But from the community group's perspective, the more health care available to the people of Three Rivers, the better. "We still need 24/7 care in the emergency department, we still need a patient medical home here in Montague, which is in its infancy," Redmond said. "But it's a really important first step in getting better care."
Times
14-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Slice of life: would you rent one of the narrowest houses in the UK?
One of the UK's skinniest rental properties, 110 Goldhawk Road, is wedged between a walk-in clinic and a beauty salon — the five-storey west London home stands tall but is barely wider than its windows. Call it Ozempic House. However, at £2,950 a month, the cost for potential tenants is anything but skinny. When I walk through the front door into the narrow hallway, it's hard to believe that I've already seen the full width of the home. I don't feel an instant sense of claustrophobia — stretching my arms from wall to wall, there are a couple of inches to spare on each side. But as I'm 5ft 1in, alas, I may not be the best person to measure the proportions of a home.
