Residents of Laurentians town raise funds to open health clinic — but can’t find staff

After two years and $100,000 in community fundraising, the Laurentians clinic Wentworth North health cannot open without a doctor or nurse practitioner.

After a two-year effort, a group of residents in Wentworth North, Que., are ready to open a health-care co-operative.

The only thing missing? A doctor or nurse practitioner.

“We need a part-time doctor or a full-time nurse,” says Mayor Karine Dostie. “Then we are ready to open in a few weeks. That’s really what we’re looking for right now. That’s all we need to make it happen.”

Dostie says the community of 1,700 residents in the Laurentians has to travel between 40 and 100 kilometres to access the nearest health-care facilities.

Former junior minister for health David Levine is part of the group pushing for the project and says the community has already done the legwork.

“The health-care system is getting the advantage of a community working very hard to put together something that the government just hasn’t done in our area,” he said.

Community fundraising has raised about $50,000 for the project, and the municipality has kicked in another $40,000. A former real estate office was renovated to accommodate patient rooms, and in conjunction with a local organization, medical equipment was purchased.

Without a doctor or nurse, however, the clinic sits empty.

“Quebec has a shortage of physicians and a shortage of nurse practitioners. That’s our biggest issue at the moment,” says Levine.

The health-care co-op is part of Quebec’s public system but is spearheaded locally by residents. Community members raised $100,000 to renovate the building and purchase medical equipment, bringing the project close to completion.

“Quite honestly, the health-care system is getting the advantage of a community working very hard to put together something that the government just hasn’t done in our area,” said David Levine, who is involved with the Wentworth North health co-op.

Despite the progress, the clinic cannot open without staff.

“If we had a part-time doctor or a full-time nurse, we’d be ready to open in a few weeks,” Dostie said. “That’s really what we’re looking for right now. That’s all we need to make it happen.”

Levine says the difficulty lies in a broader provincial shortage.

“Quebec has a shortage of physicians and a shortage of nurse practitioners,” he said. “That’s our biggest issue at the moment.”

Health-care co-ops are public entities but spearheaded by the community.

Edward Smith is with the Quebec Federation of Health Cooperatives and says there are 40 co-ops across Quebec that serve 328,000 patients.

“Health-care co-ops are present in what we call ‘health-care deserts,’” he said. “They are essentially nonprofit-run organizations that are community-driven. Our goal is not to privatize health care at all. It’s actually, in our view, an extension of the public program to get access to health care.”

He added that communities like Wentworth North are good candidates because the nearest hospitals are in St-Jerome and Lachute.

“What we’re trying to do is help the tentacles of the public sector reach places that are too small to have the critical mass necessary to have a government-run establishment,” he said. “We understand that we can’t have CLSCs in little municipalities of 700 to 1,000 people.”

Levine said one of the issues the group is running into is a lack of flexibility in the health-care system to allow Wentworth North to have a health-care professional on a part-time basis or just a few days a week.

He added that a co-op would take pressure off residents who may ignore symptoms because the nearest health-care facility is too far, and on the system, as it would allow more access to basic services.

“If that nurse could ask for a blood test and the patient could take the prescription and wouldn’t have to see a doctor, it becomes a prevention promotion clinic,” he said. “This relieves a lot of stress on our elderly population that lives in our community.”