ANNAPOLIS ROYAL, N.S. — It may seem like the emergency centre at Annapolis Community Health Centre is closed a lot, but almost all of the closures during the past year were planned, site manager Daniel Marsh said in an update to the public.
And even on the days the emergency centre is closed, the rest of the facility is open for numerous other services from x-ray and blood collection to the diabetes centre and specialist clinics.
But the good news outweighs the bad at the health centre where two new doctors are expected in September and numerous hires, including 19 nurses, a social worker, and two central registry staff, have been made. In addition, nurse practitioner Erica Maynard was hired just over a year ago.
“Currently, because of our limited physician resources, we have planned closures Tuesdays and Thursdays,” said Marsh. “That’s going from eight in the morning until 8 at night.”
At 8 p.m. the emergency centre switches to the overnight model where it has a paramedic, a registered nurse, and a medical oversight physician available by telephone.
CLOSURES
“There were very few days other than the planned closure days where there was a closure,” Marsh said. “So maybe five or six separate from the Tuesday and Thursdays.”
In total there were 83 closures in the past 12 months. Marsh said on March 28 the overnight emergency centre has not been closed in the past year. All closures were due to doctors not being available.
The Collaborative Emergency Centre was introduced in 2012 and the daytime model requires an on-site doctor, two registered nurses, and one licensed practical nurse. If one of those positions is not filled, the CEC must close.
Marsh said the emergency centre was designed to direct patients to the most appropriate care setting – urgent needs to the emergency department and non-urgent and chronic care to primary health care.
EXPECTATIONS
“The point of doing the planned closures was to try and (meet) the expectations of the community so that they understood that Tuesdays and Thursdays were going to be a closure day and so it would be an easier message – more consistent messaging,” Marsh said.
In effect, the planned closures have funnelled urgent needs into the other days of the week.
Those planned closures have been happening since May 2018 and he’s hoping that will ease this September with the arrival of an additional physician, Dr. Hillary Lavelle, who is moving from the residency program into a full-time position. Another doctor, Jenna Hayden, will arrive this fall after fulfilling obligations in Saskatchewan.
“The local physicians who cover the CEC have multiple roles that include covering Annapolis Royal Nursing Home, education and training of medical students and (medical) residents, primary health care in the Annapolis Collaborative Practice or Annapolis Family Practice,” said Marsh. “To provide appropriate balance to these activities, including full CEC coverage, seven full-time physicians have been required. We currently have two full-time and three part-time physicians that are covering the CEC.”
RESIDENCY PROGRAM
Dr. Ken Buchholz had high praise for the residency program that brings graduating medical students to the town.
“I think the residency program has a number of different opportunities, one of those being one for recruitment in the sense that we’re introducing the residents to practice in the rural area,” he said. “They live in the community, they work with the staffs in those communities, they get to understand what life is really about.”
Marsh said the average patient visits to the emergency centre has dropped from 750 a month to 520, partly because about 100 of those visits per month have been diverted to the Annapolis Family Practice for primary health care.
He also said if a patient with urgent care issues arrives at the emergency centre on a closure day they will be taken care of. He said they would be stabilized and 911 would be called to transfer the patient.
PLEASED
“I was pleased to receive such a positive update on recruitment efforts by the Annapolis Community Health Centre, and look forward to welcoming the new doctors, medical residents, and nurses,” said Annapolis Royal Mayor Bill MacDonald, who attended the information session. “Retention of medical personnel is as critical as recruitment for health-care stability in a community, and my wife Adele and I have supported recruitment efforts by meeting with prospective candidates, and promote the remarkable quality of life we enjoy in Annapolis Royal.”
DID YOU KNOW?
The Collaborative Emergency Centre at the Annapolis Community Health Centre has been receiving patients from as far away as Berwick and Kentville in an apparent trickle-down effect.
