You may be wondering what is happening at the Denman Island Medical Clinic in 2022. The following information is intended to bring you up to date.
For regular users of the Clinic you will know that Dr. Stephen Fox took over the lease of the Clinic space at the beginning of 2020. This space is maintained by the Denman Health Centre Society (DHCS). Dr. Wilson who has worked on Denman since 2013, continued working on Thursdays and Fridays, Dr. Alsoon Brine who lives on Hornby came over to work every Tuesday and Wednesday, and Dr. Fox who also had a clinic in Cumberland came over on Mondays. For reasons unbeknown to us, Dr. Fox decided he was no longer working here or in Cumberland and left abruptly at the beginning of July this year. Drs. Wilson and Brine continued working on Denman and have been able to provide ongoing health care for Denman Residents. It should be noted that we see anyone who lives on Denman and will see any emergencies otherwise.
We will be very sad to see Dr. Brine go as she has decided she will finally retire at this time. She has been putting her retirement off for at least a couple of years. She will be greatly missed as she has provided exceptional care over these past 2 years. As of yet, we have not found a permanent replacement for Dr. Brine. So what will 2022 be like at the clinic?
Dr. Wilson who plans to fully retire at the end of 2022 will continue to work on Thursdays and Fridays. One of the doctors who works on Hornby (Dr. Froehner) has agreed to help when she can. She will work for two days a week for two weeks out of each month. Currently we have placed adds for locum doctors to help us on the other weeks. As of now, we have no definite replies to our adds. Adds have also been placed in the appropriate medical journals looking for doctors who may wish to relocate to Denman and provide ongoing care in the future to our residents. There has been some interest in this but so far, we have nothing definite to report.
We may have some gaps in care this year. Dr. Wilson will do his best to cover the necessities of patient care on the weeks when there are no other doctors working. If you have prescription renewals we would ask that you get them into the clinic or requested through your pharmacy early in the week in order for them to be filled in a timely manner.
The Denman clinic is also part of the Comox Valley Primary Care Network. Because of this association we are fortunate to have a pharmacist, a social worker, a mental health/substance use worker and a Registered Nurse (whose focus will be management of chronic disease) coming to the clinic once a week or every other week. Also Carmen Bedard, our physiotherapist is returning from Maternity leave and will be starting up again on Mondays and expanding to a second day per week if the demand is there for her services. So there will be a lot of activity happening at the clinic that residents can take advantage of.
The receptionists will be at the clinic every day during clinic hours (9:30 to 4:30). On the days when there is no doctor they will work from 9:30 to 2:00 pm. Because there may be changes on a weekly basis, there will always be an updated voice message with current information about doctor availability and working hours. Messages can be left and will be responded to as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience during these times.
We are grateful to the DHCS who continue to maintain the facility for Denman. There are also some exciting plans ahead to enhance the health and wellness of our residents. So stay tuned for updates on these.
I hope that as we move into 2022, Denmanites will continue to support and care for one another as they have done so well over the years.
Dr. Ron
