MINTO – On Feb. 7, Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae announced $568,000 in funding for the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team (MMFHT) to expand primary care in its catchment area, specifically at the Clifford Medical Centre.
The funding is adding two nurse practitioners (NP), a practical nurse (RPN) and a receptionist to the team.
“The whole premise was to be able to increase accessibility to primary care for our local residents,” said clinic NP Chantelle Koeslag.
Becky Bell has now joined the team in Clifford as a nurse practitioner and will start seeing patients at the end of April.
She recently completed her final placement for her master’s degree in Clifford, and is already familiar with the team and its operations.
“It’s a really exciting opportunity to actually provide care for people who might not have had care in a very long time,” said Bell.
“The thing that I like about a nurse practitioner lead model, is that because we don’t bill OHIP, our pay isn’t necessarily related to how many patients we see.
“So sometimes you can spend a little bit longer with people … and focus a little bit more on preventative care, what is it you actually need to make sure we keep you healthy and keep on top of things before they get bad.”
What do NPs do?
Nurse practitioners in Ontario are authorized under legislation and regulations to independently:
- complete a comprehensive health history and assessment;
- formulate and communicate a diagnosis, taking a differential diagnosis into consideration;
- prescribe all medications, including controlled drugs and substances;
- order and interpret laboratory tests;
- order most diagnostic imaging tests; and
- consult with and refer directly to specialists.
“And we only see patients who are registered to us,” said Koeslag. “We don’t see other care providers’ [patients] … we have our own patient roster and we’re not a walk-in clinic.”
There will also be an opening of a satellite clinic for the MMFHT in Harriston, where the other NP, RPN and receptionist will work.
Taking on patients
“Each nurse practitioner will be taking anywhere between 650 to 800 new patients each. So, we should be seeing 1,400 to 1,600 new patients finding primary care,” said Koeslag.
She added “there’s a lot of people in our area who do not have primary care providers.”
The MMFHT had a family doctor leave last June with no luck of finding a replacement, but Dr. Christopher Cressey has reopened his practice and is also accepting new patients, according to Koeslag.
The Clifford clinic is focussing on NPs since they can “allow all of these new patients to access all of the Family Health Team resources, which is mental health counselling, dietitians [and] nurses,” said Koeslag.
NPs also provide chronic disease management, access to specialists via the Ontario Telemedicine Network, to health promoters and kinesiologists, clinical pharmacists, smoking cessation and other programs of interest.
Those with a family health provider more than 45 minutes away are still able to sign up for the waitlist to see the NPs. However, MMFHT is currently only accepting local patients who do not have a provider.
Access to these services are not covered through OHIP, but are included in your taxes.
“If you pay taxes, you are eligible to have our services,” explained Koeslag.
When Bell begins full-time at the end of this month, she will be available Monday to Thursday.
For more information or to inquire about seeing a nurse practitioner, contact Kelly Gillespie at the Clifford Medical Centre at 519-327-4777.
