Visiting a family physician will no longer require highway travel for Turner Valley residents.
Physicians with the Foothills Family Medical Centre in Black Diamond are opening a satellite medical clinic in Turner Valley. They will alternate shifts to provide more convenient medical services to residents in the area.
“There aren’t any physician clinics in Turner Valley,” said Dr. Valerie Congdon, with the medical centre. “This is going to give patients availability to see their own physician locally. Certainly transportation is an issue in almost every rural community. I have heard physicians say that over the years.”
Construction of the Sunset Boulevard clinic will soon be complete and it is scheduled to open in August or September.
Patients will be able to book appointments to visit their doctor in Turner Valley or residents can schedule visits last minute, said Congdon.
“We have been very focused on same-day access,” she said. “Each of the physicians that’s in for the day will have some same-day slots.”
The idea for a satellite medical office came from Turner Valley Mayor Kelly Tuck during discussions with pharmacists at Turner Valley’s PharmaChoice last spring, which will be next door to the clinic.
Tuck then brought the idea to her doctor in Black Diamond.
“It truly is an opportunity to have a clinic where you can book appointments and be able to walk in and not over utilize the hospital,” said Tuck. “There’s times I try to get in to see my family physician and it’s a couple of days sometimes. Now if there is an issue it deters you from going to the hospital.”
It also provides a great service to patients with mobility limitations, Tuck said.
“If they have to take a cab from Black Diamond there is that cost associated with it,” she said. “Having a clinic here would be more accessible. I know it’s only three kilometres to get to the doctors’ office, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to run down and see a doctor. A lot of it is about convenience.”
Tuck said the satellite clinic is a much-needed service for Turner Valley.
“I want to thank the pharmacy and the doctors’ office for taking an idea and running with it,” she said. “It’s just another enhanced service that we have that I think is really important to the community.”
PharmaChoice pharmacist Yasser Mahmoud sees the Turner Valley location as being more convenient for residents.
“It’s more accessible to them, especially in the winter,” he said. “People are excited for it.”
Black Diamond Deputy Mayor Mike Ross considers the satellite clinic a “brilliant idea.”
“There’s a lot of people in Turner Valley that have a hard time getting around,” he said. “That will provide a service that Turner Valley really needs instead of having to drive over here for appointments every time.”
The clinic will be open Mondays to Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It will have four examining rooms, but will start out with one doctor on duty, said Congdon.
“We will see what the demand is,” she said. “We are still in the ‘how is this going to work’ phase.”
Physicians at the Black Diamond medical centre hope the satellite clinic will not only offer more convenience for its Turner Valley area patients, but also provide more space for its existing practice.
The Foothills Family Medical Centre has 12 physicians and a varying number of family practice residents from the University of Calgary’s Department of Family Medicine as well as Calgary Primary Care Rural Network staff, said Congdon.
The new clinic will increase the examining capacity from 16 to 20 rooms, she said.
“Space in our current clinic is at a premium,” she said, adding when it first opened in 1986 there were four doctors. “We prefer to work with two examining rooms per physician. If we all show up on the same day to work that gets a little tight. We definitely need more space.”
