The third major health initiative in 3 years, 1) hospitalist doctor position at OPH, 2) 2nd doctor in OPH ER and 3) new community health clinic. Local health care improvements benefit the entire Oromocto Fredericton Region for our families. We will grow the economy so we can keep investing in health and wellness care. Oromocto health clinic to open in November The Daily Gleaner (Fredericton) Wed Jul 16 2014 Page: A1 Byline: ADAM BOWIE The Daily Gleaner The Oromocto Health Clinic is expected to open in November, a move that should give citizens in the model town and surrounding area better access to critical primary care services. The team-based practice, which is expected to include a physician, two nurse practitioners, an undetermined number of nurses, a dietitian, a social worker and administrative staff when it opens this fall, is possible thanks to a partnership between the provincial government, the Horizon Health Network, and the 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown. The Canadian Forces will renovate a space for the clinic in a building on Iroquois Avenue in Oromocto at a cost of about $650,000. Now that the military has finalized the floor plans for the space, the work will begin in the coming days to prepare the site. Many community health professionals were able to review the floor plans at a small gathering held on Tuesday afternoon at the Military Family Resource Centre. Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Jody Carr, who stood in for Health Minister Ted Flemming at the announcement, told reporters afterwards the provincial government has committed about $500,000 per year towards ongoing operational costs. Certainly this initiative will go a long ways towards improving the health of those living in Oromocto and surrounding areas, not to replace, but to complement the support and the services that are provided at the Oromocto Public Hospital, he said. John McGarry, president and CEO of the Horizon Health Network, said the clinic has already hired a nurse practitioner and an administrative support professional and it has interviewed candidates for the social worker and dietitian positions. Initially the clinic hopes to open in November and reach its full operating capacity by the spring, he said, which should allow it to serve about 3,000 patients. Weve known for a long time that this is required here, he said. We hear lots and lots of stories all around the province from people saying its tough to access primary care. Were doing what we can to try to address that without actually having to serve people through our hospitals. Thats just not the appropriate place. While one of the main reasons its being established is to help improve access to care for some specific populations such as the spouses and children of members in the Canadian Forces, citizens of the Oromocto First Nation, and people living in the rural communities outside the town. McGarry said the clinic will be accepting patients from throughout the region. We havent set quotas. Well serve First Nations (citizens), well serve families, well serve citizens of Oromocto, he said. Much like the (Noreen-Richard Health Centre) serves primarily francophone patients, theres no quota system there. Its just primarily a francophone centre. So we would expect this would be very much a centre that military families can come to, but were not closing the door to anybody. He said the Oromocto Health Clinic is expected to be open five days per week, during daytime and evening hours, which will be important to improve access during off-hours. When asked if the centre could expand its staffing roster at some point, McGarry said that could be possible down the road. We always want to do more primary care, and to the extent that we figure out how we can convert some of our big infrastructure dollars to primary care, all the better, he said. McGarry said hes confident that Horizons recruitment teams will be able to secure a full staff before the facilitys targeted opening date. I think a lot of professionals want to work in these team environments. You have to be sure youre getting the right people for it, who will come on in and are willing to work that way. But were going to have a physician and nurse practitioner who want to work together, he said. He said that as we get closer to the opening of the clinic, Horizon officials will let the public know how they can join the clinics roster of patients. Well work that out with the team once they get here. But well be sure that we deal with people who have a need as opposed to allowing people to switch around. Were really trying to address the needs of the community as opposed to causing a big turmoil in existing practices, he said. Lt.-Col. James Malejczuk, commander of the 5th Canadian Division Support Group at Base Gagetown, said this is great news for members of the Canadian Forces and their families, who he said often experience serious difficulties in securing a primary care practitioner because of the frequent moves that come with military service. I think its difficult for anybody thats searching for health care, especially military due to the transient nature (of the life), he said. Our significant others, spouses, they support what we do and they have to also reinvent themselves professionally. But from a health-care perspective, an initiative such as this is significant. Malejczuk said the wait can be staggeringly long in some cases. From some of the documentation Ive seen, there are military dependents that can be here three, four, five years and still have not found a health-care practitioner, he said. Its kind of like luck of the draw at times, right? Right time, right spot. But once again, this initiative here will go a far way to mitigating that pressure. The clinic emerged as one of the most prominent recommendations included in a 2009 community needs assessment, which was carried out by an advisory committee tasked with studying the needs in Oromocto and its surrounding areas. The assessment found that there were high rates of obesity in the area, a need for better access to mental health and addictions services, and there was a need for improved access to primary health care, particularly through an interdisciplinary team setting
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 13:21:49 +0000
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