STELLARTON – Cecil Clarke got first-hand look at the walk-in clinic at the Aberdeen Business Centre and says he appreciates its value to the community.
Those in charge of health care delivery, he says, “should be sitting down, listening to the people on the ground here providing resources. Because, if you don’t have at least some stability with the people who are prepared to provide the service, and treat them fairly in terms of fee-for-service, you’re making the situation at the ER in the Aberdeen (Hospital) even worse.
“They’re not listening to the medical professionals that are here in the community, that have stepped up, willing to provide a service and they’re not treating them as equals in the system. Do you know how many communities would love to have two doctors set up a clinic willingly? All they are asking for is to be paid a fair rate,” he said.
The Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor and Progressive Conservative leadership hopeful was in Stellarton on Wednesday Aug 1, when he met with about 30 party supporters to discuss health care deliver in the province of Nova Scotia.
Clarke said he met up with one person at the New Glasgow clinic who had showed up at 12:20 p.m. to get in the lineup.
“They knew there was a wait, but they also said the wait was less than it would be if they were in the ER for 10 hours.”
Clarke said walk-in clinics can nip some relatively minor health issues in the bud before they become more serious, without putting even more of a strain on emergency rooms.
“In today’s society, the public wants access to a walk-in clinic.”
He added that the professionals should be treated on an equal basis “when it comes to compensation and supports to do their job because a patent in a walk-in clinic (or) a patient in an ER room, is no different than when in a general practitioner’s office.”
