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New Caledon Specialist Clinic officially opened in Bolton

December 5, 2013   ·   0 Comments

By Bill Rea
There was a packed house on hand last Thursday for the official opening of the Caledon Specialist Clinic.
Operating from the ground floor of the Royal Courtyards on King Street East in Bolton, the clinic will be offering more services supporting health and well-being, making sure they are now close by and convenient for residents of Caledon and surrounding areas.
This is thanks to a partnership between Headwaters Health Care Centre (HHCC), Caledon Community Services (CCS) and the Central West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).
CCS CEO Monty Laskin expressed gratitude to the LHIN for diligence and working closely with the agency to make the clinic a reality. And he was also glad Headwaters is on board, providing the specialists who will staff the clinic.
Laskin also pointed out local primary care physicians have worked closely with CCS over the last couple of years, coming up with ideas for a model of care to be available.
“Our local doctors’ continued support will go a long way to ensuring that our clinic thrives,” he commented.
“This specialist clinic will be a valuable resource for our emerging Health Link, in that it will support all residents, including those with complex needs,” Laskin added. “There is no doubt that when community, hospital and LHIN work together, our partnerships create opportunities for improved health care that cannot be attained when we work in silos.”
“Local health services provide convenience, increased accessibility and timely interventions. Gone is the long drive to a hospital,” he observed. “CCS is pleased to be working in partnership with Headwaters Health Care Centre and the Central West LHIN. These strong relationships have allowed this local specialist clinic to land.”
LHIN Board Chair Maria Britto commented on the number of calls she has heard from people to have services that are available close to home.
She said the specialist consultation service is a great example of how the various agencies work together to develop solutions. Britto expressed appreciation for the specialists from headwaters who will be making themselves available to the new clinic.
“We are very fortunate to have physicians play ball with us,” she remarked. “We are on the right page and we are moving in the right direction.”
“The LHIN’s investment in this specialist consultation service is part of a broader plan to better serve the needs of residents in Caledon and surrounding areas,” commented LHIN CEO Scott McLeod. “The Caledon Specialist Clinic will be among a group of health service providers supporting the developing Bolton-Caledon Health Link, a model for coordinating care to ensure that patients who need care get it quickly and as close to home as possible.”
With a referral from a primary care physician or a nurse practitioner, residents of the community can receive services from specialists in the fields of obstetrics/gynecology, paediatrics, surgery, orthopedics and others at the clinic. It will be operating three exam rooms concurrently. Specialists have been recruited from HHCC. As the service grows, it is expected other specialists will become part of the clinic’s services.
“At Headwaters Health Care Centre, our mission is to provide high quality and compassionate care, in collaboration with our partners, to optimize the health of our community,” Headwaters President and CEO Liz Ruegg commented. “This specialist clinic is just another example of one of our many partnerships created to support the health and well-being of the community closer to home.”
The clinic is also part of the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association, Peel branch. OTN allows specialties such as psychiatry and dermatology to support patients via videoconferencing. It will provide the clinic with an increased number of medical specialists through its roster of specialists across the province. OTN is expected to launch in the clinic in the new year.
“The clinic will be used as a teaching centre, with OTN providing webinars for physicians and our community’s health service providers,” Laskin added. “We look forward to welcoming them all.”
All visits to the clinic will be private, confidential and covered under The Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).
The clinic also offers meeting space for non-clinical events such as webinars and health-related activities. Community health service providers are encouraged to use OTN and this meeting space for their training and services.
For more information regarding the clinic, contact Coordinator Darlene Lajoie at 905-857-4327 or dlajoie@ccs4u.org

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