A new health-care centre has quietly started taking patients in downtown Victoria after years of planning. “The capacity for service here is extraordinary,” says Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto. “It’s culturally aware. It has provided some really important supports and safeguards for a very diverse potential population. And it really, I think, is a showpiece for how very diverse health-care services can be different.” The Allied Health Centre at 1025 Johnson St. opened its doors on April 24. The centre is run through the Victoria Division of Family Practice, which is part of the Victoria Primary Care Network. Patients must be referred by family physicians and nurse practitioners to receive care at the new centre. Victoria’s mayor says the city spent years collaborating on its creation. Alto says the clinic is reserved for people who need comprehensive care, leaning on a treatment plan that consults with a variety of health professionals. “This is the first one in the region and it’s a model that we hope will be replicated in other communities because it opens the door to that whole-body type of treatment,” says Alto. According to the province, there are clinical pharmacists, dieticians, social workers, mental health and substance use consultants. There are also Indigenous wellness providers from the Victoria Native Friendship Centre. The Victoria Primary Care Network Allied Health Centre is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. by appointment. The facility was used as a backdrop to Monday’s provincial update on efforts to recruit U.S. health-care workers. Victoria’s mayor hopes we could see some of them at the Allied Health Centre. “It’s a very unique offering, so I’m sure they’d be delighted. And we’d be delighted to have them,” says Alto.
