Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. family concerned over temporary clinic for 10K patients losing their family doctor

The daughter of two de-rostered patients from the Group Health Centre in Sault Ste. Marie remains skeptical that her elderly parents will get the care they need at a new temporary clinic.

Due to a shortage of family doctors, 10,000 patients at the Group Health in Sault Ste. Marie were de-rostered today.

In an announcement on May 29, the province said it was investing $2.8 million to start a temporary clinic at the centre called the Access Care Clinic. It will be led by nurse practitioners.

Laurie Kendrick worries her 93-year-old father and 88-year-old mother won't receive the continuous care and follow-up they had with their family doctor.

"This is just a temporary Band-Aid," Kendrick said about the clinic.

She worries about follow-ups on lab results and referrals to specialists.

"How are they going to possibly keep on top of all of the results from labs and diagnostic imaging? How are they going to keep up with all this?" Kendrick said.

As her parents get older, she says they have health issues that need constant monitoring.

Her father had a stroke and her mother has limited mobility because of an injury to her back.

"Just by means of their age, they, you know, they do have some health concerns," Kendrick said.

The fact they were among the 10,000 patients at the centre to lose their family doctor came as a surprise to them, Kendrick added.

Members of the United Steelworkers helped create the Group Health Centre in the early 1960s through contributions from their pay cheques.

Kendrick's mother, Eunice Patterson, started working at the Group Health Centre around 1964. Her parents have been patients there ever since.

"I thought that they must be safe, right? I mean, they've been rostered for 60 years. How could they not be?" Kendrick said.

The new clinic will be only for those 10,000 de-rostered patients.

A document about the new clinic which was shared with the de-rosteredpatients says it's only meant to be a temporary solution "until patients are re-rostered with a primary care provider at GHC (Group Health Centre) or elsewhere."

Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker told CBC News the clinic will buy the city more time to recruit family doctors for a longer-term solution.

It will also allow the Group Health Centre to maintain those patient records.

Some patients were de-rostered earlier

Prior to the news the Group Health Centre would drop 10,000 patients, it had already de-rostered 3,000 patients over a six-year period.

Mark Molinaro was one of those patients. He lost his family doctor last year.

Molinaro is 59 and was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of years ago.

"On the heels of that, it doesn't make me feel like they give a crap about me," he said.

Because he was de-rostered before May 31, Molinaro might not be able to access the temporary nurse practitioner-led clinic.