Health clinic expansion aims to serve all unattached patients in Charlotte County municipality, minister says

The Fundy Health Centre in Blacks Harbour will receive $1.5 million in funding from the province to expand and hire more staff.

Health Minister John Dornan said the expanded collaborative care clinic will be able to serve the remaining 1,138 patients in the southwestern municipality of Eastern Charlotte who are not yet connected with a primary-care provider. 

“This is the first clinic that we are announcing that has a firm plan for attaching everybody, geographically, in this area,” Dornan said during the announcement at the clinic on Monday.

He said the facility already has four nurse practitioners but that funding would hire one more plus three health-care support staff.

Premier Susan Holt said some clinics like the one in Blacks Harbour, just south of St. George, are “bursting at the seams” but that it would become the “hub of primary care for the community.”

“You should be able to get good, preventative primary care close to home,” Holt said.

The Fundy Health Centre has existed for 25 years, something Dornan touted as a benefit.

“People have an affinity for here. It’s not like it’s a new building out in the middle of the woods. They know where it is and they know what you guys can do,” he said. 

This is the 12th collaborative care clinic the Holt government has announced, and Dornan said to expect more announcements. The clinics were a major part of Holt’s campaign promises prior to being elected in 2024.

How the government tallies clinics has been scrutinized. Holt has been clear that not all of the clinics will be brand-new clinics. Of the 12 announced, nearly all of them are expansions of existing clinics with the government chipping in for additional staff or a larger space.

The Eastern Charlotte clinic has expanded its team and the amount of patients it serves recently before this announcement, Dornan said.

“We don't want anybody to burn themselves out, but we’re finding that the environment that they work in is positive enough that they can take on more people successfully," he said.

“Growth isn’t just a word we’re using today; it’s part of this centre’s DNA,” said Horizon Health Network CEO Margaret Melanson.

She said the clinic already serves over 4,000 patients and that staff have already begun recruitment for the new positions. The renovations are slated to be completed in 18 to 24 months, she added.