The province has rolled out the plans to give 24 communities new Family Care Clinics and Wood Buffalo is one of them.
They’ll offer same-day appointments and longer hours.
Health Minister Fred Horne says the communities picked needed better access to health care and have the room to build.
“Your region has a tremendously fast growing population; lots of people coming in, so it was just a natural fit to identify Wood Buffalo as one of the sites for a Family Care Clinic.”
He says the next step will see about 30 staff members sent to the communities to help develop a plan of action.
“It’s really too early to say where the physical location will be,” he adds, “obviously we want the clinics to be located in places that are convenient for people to get to.”
The stand-alone clinics will be staffed with a team of health providers that will meet the needs of the community.
They’ll provide non-emergency primary health care services, such as illness diagnoses and treatment, screening, immunization, health promotion, chronic disease prevention and management, and provide connections to other health agencies.
It’s meant to complement the services provided by the Primary Care Network – a network of privately owned physician offices that get supplementary funding to hire other health professionals to help provide better services.
$50-million has been budgeted this year to support the development within the communities.
Currently, there are FCCs in Edmonton, Calgary and Slave Lake.
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June 4th, 2013
