First nurse practitioner clinic marks 10 years since opening in Sudbury

Ten years ago the first nurse practitioner-led clinic in Canada opened its doors in Sudbury, Ont.

• 1st nurse practitioner-governed clinic opens in Sudbury

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At the time, it was a new model of delivering care.

The original proposal was for theclinic to follow ateam based approach. It would beledby a nurse practitioner andincludea dietitian, a social worker and a consulting doctor.

The two women behind the idea were nurse practitioners Marilyn Butcher and Roberta Heale.

At the time, 30,000people in Sudbury werewithouta family doctor.

Butcher andHeale'sdream came true in 2007 when the provincial governmentagreed to fund theclinic. It was the first of its kind in the country.

There are now two Sudbury District Nurse Practitioner Clinics.

Jennifer Clement is theclinic director for both.She says when the first clinic opened she was working as an emergency room nurse.

That was when she says she saw first hand how bad the doctor shortage was. She adds that people would come into the emergency department in the middle of the night just to get a prescription filled.

"They would have to wait, because they didn't have anybody that could follow them. There was nocontinuity of care."

"You would ask them, 'when was the last time you had your blood pressure checked?' and they weren't sure," says Clement

Now in 2017, there are 25nurse practitioner clinics across Ontario.

"We're really hoping we can expand," says Clement, "I've sent proposals in to the Ministry of Health."

She says the Sudbury clinics wouldlike to hiremore nurse practitioners and another vital staff member.

"We've really seen that mental health is a big issue in society so we'd like another social worker," saysClement.

Former Ontario Minister of Health George Smitherman was the politician who was instrumental in getting the governmentapproval for the first clinic.

To mark the special anniversary, Smitherman is the keynote speaker at the clinic's Annual General Meeting on Monday.