Renovation work is well underway in preparation for the fall reopening of the North Bay Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic Downtown location.
The clinic officially opened the first week of April 2019 but a major downtown fire just before Christmas that same year, destroyed neighbouring buildings and caused extensive smoke and water damage to the clinic, forcing it to temporarily close its doors.
“Currently we’re well into the reconstruction phase," said clinic director Jaymie-Lynn Blanchard.
"They are doing significant renovations inside. There was a lot of work that needed to be done. Once they got the insurance piece sorted, that was when we were able to start reconstruction. So, the goal is that by Fall 2020, we’ll be able to serve patients there once again. We’re confident that by then we will be back.”
Blanchard says during the summer months they are getting prepared.
"We are seeing progress at the building every day which is great. We cannot wait to be back downtown. The closer we get the more excited we get. We chose that location for a reason. Our patients love coming to see us there. We’re all waking up with anticipation that things are going to get back to normal for us soon.”
The focus right now is on the interior but the exterior also requires work.
“There were a number of assessments that happened to make sure it is structurally sound and that has been done. The external will be more cosmetic and that work will likely start within the next month or two,” said Blanchard.
“I think it is important to recognize that we are in a pandemic, so as they do construction, delays can happen. If we’re not back by the fall, it is because of some unforeseen delay.”
It has been quite a year for the clinic.
“We had only been there about eight months so as you can imagine it was very heartbreaking for our team and many of our patients who had just started to get used to coming to see us in the downtown. Looped in with all of that, we also transitioned to a new electronic medical record, EMR, in January. And here we are in a pandemic. So, I think there is a lot of resiliency amongst our team. I’m pretty confident we can get through just about anything at this point,” laughed Blanchard.
Following the fire, the clinic continued to offer services to its downtown patients from its West Ferris site.
“We were able to work with community partners to help our patients access our clinic in West Ferris if accessibility was a barrier for them. And we were able to make adjustments in our clinical schedule so that all of our clinical staff from downtown could service their patients in our office here in West Ferris.”
As with other health care agencies, COVID-19 has taken the clinic by storm.
“At our clinic, we really focus on keeping safety our number one priority and figuring out different ways to provide service that wouldn’t compromise the safety of either our patients or our staff,” explained Blanchard.
“We’re doing okay. We’ve done a lot of adjustments in our office to help support the recommendations of physical distancing, making sure that there are questions being asked when patients book their appointment and also when they arrive for their appointment.”
The clinic looks different with fewer chairs in the waiting area and arrows on the floor to keep with social distancing.
“We no longer request that our patients show up early. We do have a flow in our office with little arrows on the floor to make sure that we are moving in the right direction to avoid any transmission risks. And so, we’ve done a lot of adjustments to make sure we can still meet our patients needs,” said Blanchard.
“We have increased the use of virtual care, so we are doing many more telephone call appointments or using our Ontario Telemedicine Network for video appointments with patients. And that seems to be going really, really well.”
In addition, their number of staff inside the clinic has decreased.
“We do have a lot of staff working remotely, but with the increased uptake in telemedicine and providing phone appointments, they have still been able to service patients working from home.”
Staff recognize that many patients are struggling through these difficult times.
“We have many patients that going through a pandemic can be detrimental to their health. We definitely want to find ways to support them. We’re also adhering to the infection control measures that are required, and making sure staff and patients are safe,” said Blanchard.
“The patients that we have to see in person, of course, are our new baby visits, pre-natal, those appointments you need to see in person. You’ve got to take objective measurements for example for their blood pressure, listening to their heart, that sort of thing. So, those are the appointments that we focus on providing in office. And anything that can be done virtually we do.”
In the meantime, Blanchard expressed her thanks for all the support they have received from the community to get back into their downtown office.
“It shows a lot of dedication both from our team and the community agencies that were supportive of us going through all of those challenges,” said Blanchard.
“We’re trying to stay positive because we know better days are coming our way. It has been a group effort and I can’t wait to get home.”