Tomorrow marks a big day on the healthcare front in Sault Ste. Marie.
Former Group Health Centre doctors Kiran Waqas and Manjeet Singh are ready to begin welcoming patients into their brand-new walk-in clinic in the plaza across from Michael’s arts and crafts store.
As SooToday first reported last month, the physicians at the newly established Great Lakes Clinic will also be taking all 3,000 of their recently de-rostered patients from the Group Health with them.
Located at 710 Second Line East, the clinic will only have its walk-in services available during this opening week. The walk-in clinic is open to anyone in the city without a family doctor, and is on a first come, first served basis — no appointments required.
Their hours of operation include evenings and weekends:
- Tuesday to Friday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- Saturday to Sunday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Monday: Closed
Patients with Dr. Waqas and Dr. Singh will be able to start booking in-person appointments online next week (no virtual appointments).
In addition to providing walk-in and family practice services, Great Lakes Clinic will offer preventative care, chronic disease management, immunizations and vaccinations, health screenings and physical exams.
The clinic will also provide special appointments like newborn follow-up, post hospital discharge visits, prenatal visits, diabetic clinic, and periodic screening for men and women.
SooToday had the opportunity to explore the new facility before tomorrow’s highly anticipated opening day.
So did Mayor Matthew Shoemaker, who took to social media over the weekend to share his excitement about the clinic's debut after "several months of difficult news" in the Sault.
The clinic includes eight examination rooms, a triage room, an open-concept lobby and an accessible washroom, as well as a nursing station, injection station, boardroom, physician lounge, and perhaps most notably: free parking.
Beginning Tuesday, doctors Waqas and Singh will lead a team that consists of four nurses and three volunteers.
Just yesterday, Great Lakes Clinic was approved as an official Northern Ontario School of Medicine teaching site, which means a number of residents will have the opportunity to work at the facility throughout the summer.
The clinic will also have internationally trained family physicians on-site thanks to the minstry’s pilot program Practice-Ready Assessment. These doctors will undergo three months of supervised training before they move to another Ontario community to complete a three-year Return of Service agreement.
Doctors Waqas and Singh would like to advise their patients that they will need to request to pull their medical history and information from the Group Health Centre so it can be scanned into the Great Lakes Clinic electronic medical records system.
Patients can either give consent to the physicians to seek that information, or patients can obtain it directly from the Group Health themselves.
While many of their services are covered by OHIP, requests like sick notes, certificates, and certain administrative services are not. The uninsured services fee guide can be accessed by clicking here.
The family practice is not accepting new patients right now, but locals can be placed on a waitlist by filling out a registration form at the clinic.