“That’s been a huge change. We have actually had people say ‘what’s going on, this is terrible,’ because it is a shift in practice.”
The hospital has also “cleaned up,” by moving clinics that were originally located in the emergency department, upstairs.
“We have been really successful in moving the ultrasound, which has moved downstairs. We moved stress testing, the booking clerks, the ambulatory clinic, and all of the other clinics upstairs, to be able to allow emergency to focus on emergency work,” detailed Antymniuk.
To lighten the load even more, the hospital recently added an ambulatory care clinic to the mix.
The clinic runs on Tuesdays and Fridays from 7 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., and looks after blood transfusions, blood products, catheter checks, and “anything that doesn’t require seeing a doctor.”
“We did a bunch of small renovations upstairs so we could actually house it and take those patients out of emergency. This way, if you’re coming in to get blood work done, you don’t have to sit and wait in emergency,” Antymniuk expressed.
She added, “When we first started it, we didn’t realize how busy it would be. It’s been extremely busy, but now we’re considering increasing the hours.”
None of these changes would have been possible without the additional doctors hired through the Bonnyville Recruitment and Retention Program, which offers incentives to doctors moving to the area such as the $50,000 interest-free repayable grant and the incidentals program.
“We’ve been exceptionally successful in our physician recruitment and retention,” expressed Cathy Sandmeyer, chairperson for the Bonnyville Health Centre’s community board. “We’re at the point, where by August, there should be no one in Bonnyville that can say they don’t have a family physician.”
Antymniuk added, “The great thing is, we will be able to pair people with physicians. We will give them a list of the various physicians they can go to, so hopefully, we won’t have people who can’t get a family physician and can’t get into the clinic, which will hopefully decrease the number of visits to our emergency department.”
One thing Antymniuk wants residents to remember, is they need to call to request a family physician.
“The doctors are taking new patients currently, but you must phone the clinic and get your name on a list so they know to phone you,” Sandmeyer noted.
Before a physician will agree to take on a new patient, they will conduct an interview, just to see if you’re the right fit.
“Some people in the community would think that they will just be assigned, but it actually doesn’t work that way. A doctor has to meet with you and agree to take you on as a client,” explained Antymniuk.“It has to be the right fit, because sometimes doctors and patients don’t think the same way. You have to be able to trust.”
