Town Congratulates South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team on Being Awarded nearly $880,000

Provincial funding will support primary care teams and expand services delivered by the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team and its primary care partners at the Wasaga Beach Medical Centre and After-Hours Clinic

WASAGA BEACH – The Town of Wasaga Beach is celebrating an investment of almost $880,000 in provincial funding that is being awarded to the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team, which will support local primary care teams and help increase the number of nurse practitioners providing services at the Town’s municipally-operated, 160 Beck Street Medical Centre and After-Hours Clinic.

The funding comes as part of a larger provincial investment of $110 million that aims to support and expand primary-care teams across Ontario.

Funding will flow from the Ontario Ministry of Health to the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team (SGB OHT), and support a partnership between the SGB OHT, South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre, Georgian Bay Family Health Team and Town of Wasaga Beach to deliver services at the Town’s municipally-operated medical centre and after-hours clinic. The Town’s clinic is a fully equipped, turnkey medical office featuring six patient examination rooms.

Specifically, the new funding will create a “clinic within a clinic”, leveraging the Town’s investment in creating a Wasaga Beach Medical Centre and After-Hours Clinic. This will increase the number of nurse practitioners working at the Town-operated facility and introduce new, expanded services including social worker services, occupational therapy, and physiotherapy.

The increased staffing and services will continue to support unattached patients from Wasaga Beach and neighbouring communities, including Collingwood, Clearview and the Town of the Blue Mountains.

Appointments can be booked now at this link: https://southgeorgianbayoht.ca/wasaga-beach-medical-clinic/ or by calling 2-1-1 (24/7 multilingual helpline).

QUICK FACTS

• The Town’s community medical centre and after-hours clinic is one of this term of Council’s priorities. It is providing greater access to health services and better health outcomes for Wasaga Beach residents and families.
• The South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre has been providing a nurse practitioner two days per week to help support those members of the community who do not have a primary care provider.
• In December 2023, the Town’s After Hours Clinic opened and started serving clients Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.
• Staffed by one Nurse Practitioner, the After Hours Clinic has seen an increase of patients from 3 - 4 patients per evening to an average of 15 - 20 patients per evening; 90 per cent of patients are from Wasaga Beach. 
• The Town-operated medical centre and after-hours clinic is not a substitution for doctor recruitment. The Town of Wasaga Beach continues its efforts to attract and retain doctors, family physicians and nurse practitioners by increasing financial incentives for family physicians to $100,000 and offering turn-key, fully staffed and fully equipped medical office space in the Town’s 160 Beck Street clinic.

QUOTES

Mayor Brian Smith, Town of Wasaga Beach

 “The Town of Wasaga Beach welcomes this new funding that will support access to primary care in our community. This type of investment signals the ministry’s acknowledgement and recognition that primary care clinics are an innovative, essential part of any solution to access-to-healthcare issues that communities across Ontario are facing, including Wasaga Beach. It is also validation for our Council – the Town of Wasaga Beach has been a trailblazer in this regard, launching our municipally-operated 160 Beck Street Medical Centre and After-Hours Clinic last year, to help deal with a lack of access to family doctors and primary care that impacts so many of our residents,” said Mayor Brian Smith. “We could not have done it without our incredible partners, including the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team, South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre, Georgian Bay Family Health Team, and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation,” added Mayor Smith. “As demand for services at the Wasaga Beach Medical Centre and After-Hours Clinic continues to grow, this provincial funding is going to help a lot of families in our community and in neighbouring communities.”

MPP Brian Saunderson  

“With the rapid population growth we've seen in Simcoe-Grey over the last few years, access to primary care is an issue I hear about often from constituents. I am very happy we've received more than $879,000 from the Ministry of Health. This investment will provide 3,400 people, who are currently considered unattached patients, with access to medical professionals,” said Brian Saunderson, MPP for Simcoe-Grey. “This funding will allow the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team to work with primary care partners including the South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre and the Georgian Bay Family Health Team – and leverage existing relationships and infrastructure with the Town of Wasaga Beach and its 160 Beck Street Medical Centre – to support unattached patients from Wasaga Beach, Collingwood, Clearview and the Town of the Blue Mountains.”

Dr. Harry O’Halloran, Co-chair and primary care lead of the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team

“This funding awarded to the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team is most welcome! We can now hire much needed front line health care providers to address the needs of people who currently have no primary care provider. We will be able to leverage our strong existing relationships and infrastructure to provide more services to “unattached patients” in our region. We are grateful to the Town of Wasaga Beach for their partnership to host our new clinic within the Wasaga Beach Medical Centre and After-Hours Clinic, so we can start to see patients as soon as possible. This primary care access will help to improve the health of our community and reduce demand on acute care services in the region by providing care aimed at prevention and early disease management.”

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Visit the Town of Wasaga Beach Medical Centre and After-Hours Clinic website for the latest news and updates on services and hours of operation.

Read about the launch of the Wasaga Beach Medical Centre and After-Hours Clinic.

Learn about our partners, including the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team, Georgian Bay Family Health Team and South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre.

Learn how the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is helping to support the Town-operated medical centre and after-hours clinic.

BACKGROUND

In June 2023, Council directed staff to move forward with plans to establish a community medical centre and after-hours clinic located at 160 Beck Street in Wasaga Beach that would be funded in part through the municipal portion of proceeds from the local Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission (OLG) Playtime Casino.

The Town partnered with the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team, Georgian Bay Family Health Team and South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre to develop a plan to deliver health services at the Town’s 160 Beck Street clinic.

In October 2023, in partnership with the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team, Georgian Bay Family Health Team and South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre, the Town’s medical centre opened its doors to the public, operating Monday – Friday, offering the following services:

• Nurse Practitioner Clinic – This service is for patients who live permanently in the South Georgian Bay area and do not have a primary care provider in the area. These appointments are available Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
• Mental Health Services/Diabetes Education/Smoking Cessation health services provided by the GBFHT by referral or self-referral.            

In December 2023, the Town’s nurse practitioner-led After Hours Clinic opened and started serving clients Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.

Since then, demand, services and hours of operation continue to grow.

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