Calgary Refugee Health Clinic avoids closure with 2-year emergency bridge funding

After facing the threat of closure, a Calgary health clinic that treats thousands of refugees annually will be able to stay open for another two years — though on a much smaller scale.

Since last fall, the Calgary Refugee Health Clinic team has been scrambling for resources after learning its long-time funding of $1.6 million a year was pulled by the Mosaic Primary Care Network because the clinic's "patient volume and complexity of care have grown significantly," according to the network at the time.

The clinic, which takes in up to 1,500 new refugees a year, helps patients access health, social and settlement services and, after some time, helps them transition to permanent care.

After learning the clinic was on the verge of shutting down, the Calgary Health Foundation stepped forward with a promise of $550,000, ensuring the northeast facility can keep its doors open for two more years.

"It's been an absolute thrill that we've been able to make this happen," the clinic's medical director and family physician, Dr. Rachel Talavlikar, told CBC News.

"It was heartbreaking, what we went through."

She's referring, in part, to the loss of dozens of staff. While 27 physicians still work at the clinic part-time, they now only have five support staff — down from the 30 nurses, social workers, mental health therapists and more they used to have.

Those people are still employed with Mosaic Primary Care Network, Talavlikar added, but now patients must be referred and sit on long waitlists to see them.

"We are learning what it looks like to see these patients without that extra support. And we definitely have a bit of a backup starting to form," said Talavlikar.

Talavlikar said that means they now have to transition patients out of their clinic and to permanent family doctors more quickly — especially if they have the English skills to navigate the health care system.

They've also had to shut down their mobile support program, and they no longer have a nurse in-house at the Margaret Chisholm Resettlement Centre to treat new arrivals.

For Calgary Health Foundation CEO Paul Rossmann, the clinic's work is more important than ever, now that Calgary is a direct entry point for refugees.

"Many of these people arrive with complex medical and social needs. If those needs don't get met, people fall through the cracks and then ultimately they have the potential to end up in emergency rooms with more acute health challenges," said Rossmann.

"This is a far more proactive way to ensure the health and settlement of the refugee population."

Rossmann said the foundation is still fundraising to round up the $550,000 commitment they've made to the clinic.

What happens after the two years?

Talavlikar said she sees this funding scare as an opportunity to rebuild the clinic to be more effective and cost-efficient. Her goal is to treat each refugee that arrives in Calgary at least once.

Meanwhile, as she actively hunts for funding opportunities to hire more nurses in the near term, she's also looking to the province for some long-term solutions.

Talavlikar said she's been speaking with the leadership of Primary Care Alberta — one of the province's four new health agencies created amid the health care system overhaul — to see how a specialized clinic like hers will fit in the long-term.

"The team at Primary Care Alberta were very keen to see us be part of the health system," she said.

According to Talavlikar, this could be an opportunity to shape the new agency.

"Those of us that did work with those communities, all those equity-deserving populations, we have to fight all the time to be like, 'Don't forget about them,' right? Whereas this new system is really being structured with them at the forefront," she said.

"I'm very optimistic that we'll find a place to be anchored. I guess I won't stop until they do."

In a statement to CBC News, acting press secretary for primary and preventative health services Ryan Fournier said that Primary Care Alberta recognizes the value offered by the clinic.

He said the department "looks forward to working with the Refugee Clinic, and the healthcare teams and providers who work there, as we work towards an integrated approach to the delivery of primary care in Alberta."