The Town of Huntsville and the Algonquin Family Health Team (AFHT) have received provincial funding to move forward in building and operating the Huntsville Health Care Clinic.
The Huntsville Health Care Clinic was created as a collaborative approach to addressing healthcare needs within the community while reducing wait times at local hospitals. Dr. Melanie Mar, the Algonquin Family Health team, and the Town have partnered together to provide a walk-in health care clinic at The Annex (1 Minerva Street East) in downtown Huntsville.
With funding received, construction will begin at the Annex to prepare for an opening late winter. Mayor Nancy Alcock expressed her enthusiasm at the collaborative approach,
“Huntsville is proud to partner with the local health care sector to open the Huntsville Health Care Clinic. We are especially proud of this innovative community-based approach to provide care in Huntsville. A walk-in clinic is very much needed for our community, Council and I commend the partners for working together to make this happen.”
The clinic will begin by seeing patients who need help with cold, cough and flu and eventually evolve to support patients by offering comprehensive primary care services. Dr. Melanie Mar, lead physician AFHT, Chief Family Medicine and local primary care physician noted how the services would roll out,
“The plan is to start by helping patients in the Huntsville area, gain easier access to cough, cold and flu testing, assessment, and treatment. Our goals for this clinic is to grow over time to meet the needs of the community. We are very happy to be working with the Town who have been committed to improving healthcare access in Huntsville.”
Dr. John Simpson, Chief Emergency Department, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) shared how this walk-in clinic will help support community healthcare needs,
“Hospitals and Emergency Departments all over the country are under strain, and this clinic will be important in creating capacity in the community and improving access. We are seeing more and more people in the Emergency Department who need help with cold, cough and flu and we still have COVID in the community. This clinic will be a great addition to the local health care system.”
Work will begin with renovation of the space in order to transform it into a health care clinic. The partners are committed to communicating next steps once the Annex is ready to receive patients.
“We have come a long way to begin to open the Huntsville Health Care Clinic and we still have work to do before we open our doors. We know that clinics like this are in great demand and we will begin to see patients as soon as we can.” Dr. Melanie Mar.
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