Family health team move from Delhi worries community members: Columbus

The Norfolk Family Health Team’s move to Simcoe will have a huge impact on Delhi, says Coun. Mike Columbus.

“There has been a lot of talk about this in Delhi over the past couple of weeks,” Columbus said. “It was a big topic of discussion at the Delhi Chamber of Commerce and at the Delhi BIA meetings.

“People who are used to going to appointments in Delhi are now going to have to go to Simcoe.”

Area residents are also worried about the economic impact, Columbus said.

Columbus raised the concerns at last week’s Norfolk County council meeting. He expanded on those issues in an interview on Monday.

“It’s going to have an impact on pharmacies, the restaurants and other businesses,” Columbus said. “A lot of people, when they come in for medical appointments, will go grocery shopping, visit the bank, get a haircut or maybe go for lunch.

“After this move, a lot of them will be going to Simcoe for their medical appointments and people are concerned they’ll be having meals there instead of in Delhi.”

The Norfolk Family Health Team announced in April that it would be moving to downtown Simcoe. Plans call for the team to move to 185 Robinson St. near the Norfolk General Hospital in early 2024.

The move will give the team for space, a fully accessible office and more parking to accommodate growth, enabling the team to serve all of Norfolk County.

The planned move was called “bittersweet” by Robin Mackie, the team’s executive director, because the team is fond of its Delhi location.

However, the new expansion will enable the team to provide rural health care to more people, Mackie said.

The Norfolk health team is government-funded, aimed at local rural health care and run by a board of volunteers. It is growing and the board is looking for opportunities to consider satellite services to provide health care to under-served Norfolk residents.

Columbus said people in Delhi see the move of the family health team is a loss because physicians that worked for the health team will be working out of Simcoe.

“We still have the Big Creek family health and they have three physicians,” Columbus said. “But the Norfolk team has six physicians.

“When you go from nine to three physicians that’s a pretty big loss.”

The Big Creek Family Health Organization works out of the Delhi Community Health Centre. The health center is also home to Haldimand Norfolk REACH, My Health, Life Labs, Hometown Hearing and Pharmasave.

When the Norfolk Family Health Team made its announcement, the center said it is looking for health care service providers to fill the space vacated by the health team.

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