Sarnia Today published an article on July 12, 2024
By Ryan Drury
The new Harriston Clinic for the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team celebrated its grand opening on July 12.
Many local dignitaries were on hand to help cut the ribbon, including Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae. He says bringing good quality practical healthcare to rural communities is critical. Rae adds that the province is aware that millions still don't have a primary care doctor or nurse practitioner in Ontario, and he says the province is working to remedy that with similar projects to the one in Harriston.
"In the most recent provincial budget, we committed $545 million to expand primary care across Ontario, so similar to this. Funding nurse practitioners, doctors, RPNs, in the community. We want to ensure our care is closer to home, so we're going to continue to do that, despite what the opposition may say," Rae stated.
Rae was joined at the ribbon cutting by Perth-Wellington MP John Nater. The new Harriston clinic is located in the Minto Lions Medical Centre at 16 John Street North, between the midwives office and dentistry office, respectively. It was funded in part by a grant from the province of $1 million. Minto Mayor Dave Turton says the opening of the clinic and bringing more primary care to Minto is a big win.
"To hear our MPP Matt Rae say we are at the leading edge, Minto-Mapleton, and they're talking about that in the House of Commons, it's amazing. It's been a nice journey to get our nurse practitioners here and to get the funding," said Turton.
Turton says in a rural community it's important to ensure that good healthcare options are available to residents.
Additionally, the ceremony was attended by many members of the new clinic and the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team, including Executive Director Shirley Borges. She says finally getting the new clinic up and running is very gratifying after all the hard work that went into it.
"It's an amazing feeling. We worked really hard on our application and resources were really tight. Through the advocacy of our team and MPP Rae, we were successful in receiving funding to actually compliment the services of Minto now with a brand new clinic," Borges enthused.
A recent report published by The Canadian Press claimed that there are still over 2.5 million Ontarians who don't have a primary care doctor or nurse practitioner, and over 670,000 that do have to drive 50 or more km to access that care. Borges believes that opening more clinics and expanding the scope for nurse practitioners to service small rural communities is the way of the future. She adds they've already been doing that in their area for many years.
"We've been working that way for several years and I think we can more than adequately serve our community with their primary care needs without having to travel to the emergency department, or travelling hours away to see a physician," noted Borges.
The new clinic is now accepting clients. Should residents of the area not have a doctor or a nurse practitioner and would like one they can call the office to be added to the list at 886-260-9672. You can also find out more by visiting https://mmfht.ca/.