Walk-in clinic to be expanded in Delhi

Delhi Community Health Center (DCHC) recently announced an expansion of its walk-in clinic service is coming in the new year.

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Currently, the DCHS public walk-in clinic sees patients Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. But they get calls on a daily basis looking for walk-in service, said Lori Yeo, DCHC building administrator.

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“The plan is to provide more healthcare,” Yeo said.

Thanks to the generosity of the Delhi-LaSalette Knights of Columbus, who presented a donation of $100,000 last Thursday, the Delhi Community Health Center will be able to move forward with its plans to open an expanded walk-in clinic five or six days a week , incorporating both daytime and evening hours, starting in January 2025.

“We were approached by a doctor who was interested in the possibility of a five-to-six-day a week, full-time walk-in clinic,” said Connie Davidson, DCHC and walk-in clinic medical officer.

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“So we were already working on a plan to expand the walk-in clinic to provide more medical services to the community,” said Yeo. “We just didn’t know how we were going to finance it. So the timing was fantastic.”

The donation from the Delhi-LaSalette Knights of Columbus, which will help renovate and furnish (computers, desks, exam beds, etc) the new walk-in clinic space, came after a DCHC presentation in February explaining the need for full-time walk -in clinic and its benefit to the community.

“I was working on a $100,000 budget, and that’s what the Knights of Columbus had said ahead of time,” Yeo said. “’We’re looking at (a donation amount) around $100,000, what would you spend it on?’ I said, ‘I happen to know exactly what I’d spend it on!’”

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“We have the perfect project for you,” Davidson smiled.

The expanded walk-in clinic will operate separately from space currently shared with the Big Creek Family Health Organization, and use space left by the Norfolk Family Health Team, which is moving to Simcoe in the fall of 2024.

“Delhi Community Health Center is still going to be in this same building (105 Main Street), we’re just going to make use of some of the space that the Norfolk Family Health Team is going to leave,” said Yeo. “They (Norfolk Family Health Team) have outgrown their space.”

The expanded walk-in clinic could potentially provide access to medical care for patients without a primary care physician, or patients who would otherwise seek assistance from overburdened emergency departments, Yeo noted.

Delhi Community Health Centre, a community-owned and charitable non-profit organization, is currently home to two full groups of doctors – a family health team and a family health organization. It includes a pharmacy, a LifeLabs, care partners and more.

“It’s a full health center,” said Yeo.

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