A trio of family care clinics will open their doors next month as part of a government pilot project to connect individuals in under-served communities to adequate health services.
The clinics, located in east Edmonton, east Calgary and Slave Lake, cost roughly $5-million each and Premier Alison Redford said there is already demand for project expansion.
“There are over 40 communities in this province that have already called (Minister of Health and Wellness Fred Horne) personally and said that they are interested in establishing family care clinics,” she said. “ I have no doubt that as we move ahead, that more Albertans will receive better care and more access faster.”
There is no timeline for when additional family care clinics could spring up around the province, but Horne insisted there would be more.
“We absolutely do (want more) and we are going to have more and we have allocated money in the budget to do that,” he said. “They are all going to be possible but what needs to happen first and I think what’s critical to the success, is the work that’s been done with the community prior to that.”
The family care clinics are funded by Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) global budget, with an additional $75-million budgeted for primary health in 2012-13.
The province-owned clinics are staffed by a team of health care professionals, including doctors, nurse practitioners, social workers, psychologists, dietitians and pharmacists, among others.
This concept is designed to provide easier access to health care for residents in the chosen locations, which were selected based on lack of existing primary health care as well as need for services.
Marianne Stewart, vice-president of AHS Edmonton zone, said the east Edmonton location will serve an “overburdened” demographic, largely comprised of low-income individuals, aboriginal peoples and immigrants new to Canada — groups often plagued with chronic illness.
Horne said the east Calgary location was chosen for similar reasons, while the Slave Lake clinic was selected to offset the significant shortage of physicians in that area.
“This was very much designed by and for this community, so it’s not a cookie-cutter approach,” he said.
Although the initial projects are all funded and operated by AHS, Horne said the model is equally applicable to both physician-owned and community-owned clinics.
“There’s really nothing stopping (not-for-profit) agencies in the community who see a need from putting together and running a family care clinic of their own,” he said.
The clinics are not intended to replace existing services and will instead link to other services already in place, like the 40 Primary Care Networks (PCNs) province wide, home care, lab services and various specialists.
“There’s no doubt that we’re going to continue to see pressures on the health-care system and one of our unique challenges will be to continue to improve the system in partnership with doctors and nurse practitioners and with patients,” Redford said.
The East Edmonton Family Care Clinic and the East Calgary Family Care Clinic are slated to open April 2, while the Slave Lake Family Care Clinic is scheduled to open on April 16.
The Family Care Clinic Minister’s Advisory Committee, made up of various medical representatives, will evaluate the pilot clinics over the next year before possibly establishing additional AHS-owned clinics.
