Sackville’s Horizon-operated primary care clinic is still a ways from having a full complement of primary care providers, but the intention is for the clinic to serve as the patient medical home for the geographical region, according to a presentation to Horizon’s board of directors last week.
Horizon opened the Tantramar Primary Care Clinic in September 2023 to help take on patients orphaned by a series of doctor retirements in the area. Just under a year later in August, the clinic hired its first full time primary care provider, nurse practitioner Corinna Power, who made the move from the Port Elgin clinic (where a new doctor is expected to start working in early 2025.)
Last week, Horizon CEO Margaret Melanson told reporters that there are two part time doctors working alongside Power at the clinic, as well as a registered nurse and a licensed practical nurse. Melanson said Horizon would be “adding a full time dietitian and pharmacist by mid November.”
“At this point in time, we are also hoping to secure space to expand this clinic, because there is a need for additional medical practitioners and allied health providers, and having additional space is going to allow us to really create that collaborative clinic that is envisioned,” said Melanson after the Horizon board meeting on November 7.
After a public meeting in July in Port Elgin, Horizon’s director of primary health care for Zone 1, Richard Lemay, told CHMA that the network intended on hiring at least three full-time primary care providers for the Tantramar clinic, either doctors or nurse practitioners.
Lemay explained the plan was also to hire a group of allied health professionals to complement the work of doctors and nurse practitioners, including a full time pharmacist, a full time social worker, a full time dietitian, and a half-time respiratory therapist. Lemay said approximately 3,000 to 4,000 patients would eventually have their ‘patient medical home’ at the Tantramar clinic.
Natasha Lemieux is Vice President, Community for the Horizon Health Network, overseeing primary care. Lemieux told the Horizon board that the patient medical home model would eventually provide primary care access to everyone in the region, and help advance health equity.
“The teams are situated locally and take care of the entire geography,” explained Lemieux. “So essentially, nobody left behind. Everybody gets access to high quality care and any unique care needs that are required in that community,” said Lemieux.
Each local team will be able to “tailor its approach and tailor its effectiveness” to its local community, explained Lemieux. “It really wraps around each patient, their community, their social determinants of health, and really what they need as a population and as a person and as a family to be able to become healthy,” said Lemieux.
Margaret Melanson told reporters that while management of the Tantramar primary care clinic is currently situated in Moncton with primary care director Richard Lemay, there is a possibility that the site may have a local manager in future.
“Probably, as we move forward to a greater number of allied health professionals within a clinic,” said Melanson, “there will be some type of on site management that would be responsible for the day to day work within the clinic.” Melanson referred to Sackville Memorial Hospital facility manager Sarah Brown as an example of local management.
