Modular health-care clinic officially opens in Bothwell

To help provide additional health-care options for rural residents, a new modular clinic has officially opened in Bothwell.

CarePartners, which runs the facility with Erie St. Clair Home Community Care Support Services, held a special event Tuesday in the East Kent community’s arena parking lot, where it is located.

While it doesn’t replace a primary care provider, the fully accessible clinic provides an array of services, from intravenous needs to wound care.

One full-time nurse and two part-time nurses staff the clinic, which operates 60 hours a week.

Jodi Phillips, CarePartners’ vice president of patient care and experience, said community care support services staff conduct an assessment of the patient.

“If they’re eligible for home community care support services, they come through this clinic through a referral,” she said.

Phillips added staffing “floats” to accommodate patient needs.

She said the clinic, which features patient and office space, is considered semi-permanent in that it could be towed to another location, but is a fixture of the area for the foreseeable future.

Noting the planning began more than a year ago, Phillips said CarePartners aims to improve care services in Ontario. The Bothwell site is the organization’s first modular clinic, which helps provide cost savings.

“We’re very proud of this new presence here in Bothwell,” she said. “And look forward to continuing to grow ties in this community.”

Patients from neighboring jurisdictions also are welcome. Phillips said nurses can see approximately 16 patients in an eight-hour day, depending on the procedure.

“We’re certainly not at capacity, but anticipating being so as we move forward,” she said.

In February, Chatham-Kent council approved a lease agreement for the clinic in the parking lot.

Mayor Darrin Canniff was on hand for Tuesday’s event, along with East Kent Coun. Steve Pinsonneault.

“That’s what makes a community a community, is when people come together to do things like this,” Canniff said.

Pinsonneault believes the clinic is the start in improving area health-care services.

He’s optimistic Chatham-Kent could see more of this idea in the future.

“I’m really hoping that it could expand to different areas,” he said. “The world is changing… this could be the start of a very, very good thing.

“We are on the right track here and we’re really fortunate to have this in our community.”

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