New walk-in clinic at Montague pharmacy aims to be open 3 times a week to start

A new walk-in clinic has opened in eastern P.E.I., and people in the area hope it can be the start of better health care in the region. 

The new permanent clinic is located in McKenna's PharmaChoice on Queens Road in Montague, just a stone's throw from Kings County's largest hospital. 

The doctors who staff it have full-time jobs elsewhere, but for now the clinic is aiming to offer opportunities to seek help from them three days a week, as their schedules permit. 

The clinic opened its doors last Thursday, and 20 patients received care. 

"It feels excellent. It was a lot of hard work and planning that went into it and [I'm] really excited to have it opened. It's going to be great for the community," said Chris McKenna, the pharmacist-owner at McKenna's PharmaChoice. 

"We even had people calling the next day saying they really appreciated it, it's great to have in the community — people with no family doctor."

A long time coming

The frequent closures of Kings County Memorial Hospital's emergency department in recent years due to physician and nurse shortages is what really got the ball rolling for a permanent walk-in clinic in the area. 

About two years ago, a volunteer group made up of the hospital foundation's staff and members of the Three Rivers community was formed to look at potential solutions. 

It's a drop in the bucket, but we need lots of drops in that bucket right now.— Volunteer Theresa Redmond

A clinic run by McKenna was set up at the Down East Mall last December, but that was only ever meant to be a temporary space until the current location was ready. 

The volunteer group raised around $200,000 to renovate the space in the mall for the clinic, while Health P.E.I. also opened its own clinic right next door. 

'One more tool in the toolbox'

Ray Brow, vice-chair of the Kings County Memorial Hospital Foundation, said there was a "desperate need" for care, especially on weekends when the ER was closed. 

"We, in hindsight, did not know exactly what we were getting into because it turned out to be an enormous amount of work and an enormous amount of fundraising," Brow said. 

"We now see more services here in Three Rivers than when we started, and that was our objective." 

The volunteers are grateful to have the new permanent clinic to serve the area instead of patients needing to travel to the next closest emergency department, nearly 50 kilometres away at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown. 

"There's a really big need for primary care in Kings County, and this is going to be one more tool in the toolbox," said Theresa Redmond, a member of the volunteer board for the community clinic. 

"It's a drop in the bucket, but we need lots of drops in that bucket right now." 

Future of mall clinic space uncertain

As for the clinic that was set up at the Down East Mall, Redmond and Brow are hoping Health P.E.I. will decide to take over that space too. 

If the agency does decide to expand there, it has promised to reimburse the KCMH Foundation for 75 per cent of the $200,000 the volunteer group raised. 

Health P.E.I. has not confirmed what its plans are for the space. 

But from the community group's perspective, the more health care available to the people of Three Rivers, the better. 

"We still need 24/7 care in the emergency department, we still need a patient medical home here in Montague, which is in its infancy," Redmond said. "But it's a really important first step in getting better care."