Elgin County residents desperately looking for household medical doctors can have a brand new possibility as of subsequent week.
The Elgin Neighborhood Well being Hub, operated by the Thames Valley Household Well being Group, is accepting new sufferers to a mannequin the place medical doctors are hardly ever seen.
As a substitute, nurse practitioners assess and supply major care. They may solely seek the advice of with a health care provider as required, mentioned Heather Atyeo, the primary nurse practitioner on the web site on First Avenue.
“We can prescribe most medications. We can do preventative care and wellness care. We can manage many acute episodic illnesses. Lots of chronic disease management,” she said.
With the role of nurse practitioners expanding, the province committed nearly $ 1 million to the clinic last March.
At a grand opening Friday, local MPP Rob Flack called the St. Thomas model the path forward.
“I think it’s here to stay,” said Flack. “I think it’s a very important part of our healthcare team approach and investment in the years to come. It’s a new reality. It’s a good reality, and it’s going to work.”
However with Ontarians anticipating entry to household medical doctors, will it’s adequate?
MPP Rob Flack is joined by employees of the brand new Elgin neighborhood well being hub For ribbon-cutting on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (Sean Irvine/CTV Information London)Flack acknowledged the physician scarcity, however he argued extra providers are coming. He additionally knocked down any suggestion that nurse practitioner clinics are a stopgap measure.
“Our population base is growing exponentially due to economic growth. This is going to be an investment, it’s not going to be a stopgap.”
Nonetheless, the brand new clinic might cease pointless visits to native hospitals. Atyeo contends wait occasions are anticipated to be far lower than most medical doctors’ places of work.
“We’ll try to be able to offer some same-day visits. We’ll get them booked the same day, the next day, or the next week, depending on our schedules. We hope to provide a resource, so people are able to access care without going to emergency.”
As soon as absolutely staffed, a number of nurse practitioners and a nurse will see as much as 50 sufferers every day.
Heather Atyeo Is a nurse practitioner on the new Elgin Neighborhood Well being Hub. Sept. 20, 2024. (Sean Irvine/CTV Information London)It’s a welcome possibility for St. Thomas resident Darlene Nicolaou. She is among the many many in Elgin County who can not discover a household physician.
To see her present doctor, she drives to and from the neighborhood she left six years in the past.
“Nearly three and a half hours. Principally, it’s a complete day’s drive!” she lamented.
Regardless that she would quite see a health care provider regionally, Nicolaou is hopeful the brand new clinic will present her with an possibility.
“It makes good sense,” she mentioned.
