A new community health centre is being built in Port Hardy, helping to deal with the region’s ongoing doctor shortages.
Helen Owen, executive director of the Quatse Community Health Centre, says four doctors are on board already, including one relocating from Haida Gwaii and an addictions specialist who will visit from Campbell River. She says they are hoping to open their doors in early summer.
“We are working towards opening a community health centre here in Port Hardy in the Thunderbird Mall hopefully by mid-July,” she says. “Construction is under way right now so it just depends on how fast the construction work is completed.”
She says it could be opened sooner than scheduled. She adds that once the centre opens, they will look at adding more services and allied health providers, including physiotherapy, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and social workers.
Port Hardy has been dealing with doctor shortages for years, prompting the community to come up with the health centre. It will be financed through physician overhead and community fundraising.
