CRAPAUD, P.E.I. — Gertrude Campbell of Crapaud recalls the anxiety created in her community when the area was left without a doctor.
“We were just devastated – didn’t know what to do,’’ says the 76-year-old Campbell.
“Everybody was just saying, ‘what are we going to do? What are we going to do?’ ’’
When Dr. Joey Giordani pulled down his family physician shingle in late 2017 – not long after the paint had a chance to dry – residents were left scrambling.
Giordani moved his practice to Cornwall but left the practice all together halfway through 2018.
Crapaud and area residents have been without a permanent family doctor since.
South Shore Health and Wellness, a registered charity, was formed to find a healthy solution to the unsettling void.
The group has come far – and the future looks bright.
Co-chairman Ian Dennison says the province has promised a full-time nurse practitioner within weeks.
The group is also hopeful a full-time family doctor will soon set up shop in Crapaud.
There are brand new digs for a collaborative health-care practice that shares a building with the South Shore Pharmacy.
The facility, which has three equipped exam rooms, is seen as a good enticement to help draw a doctor to the community.
“This facility is our way of going at it,’’ says Dennison.
“And in addition to the facility, we’ve provided the equipment for that physician at no charge to them for the first year. If they want to come and serve the community and stick around, this is our offer – and we think it’s a good one.’’
Ultimately, the goal is to have two full-time nurse practitioners and a full-time physician working at the clinic.
South Shore Health and Wellness secretary Lisa Gallant says a physiotherapist is now coming in three times a week, and a massage therapist and pharmacists are part of what she describes as “a whole basket of primary health-care services in one place”.
Henry Dunsmore of Victoria is hopeful the facility draws a new doctor.
He was a patient of Dr. Hendrik Visser for 25 years and a patient of Visser’s replacement, Giordani, for that doctor’s short run.
Dunsmore, who had a heart attack last year and is 71 years old, says he feels more in need of a family doctor today than in the past.
He applauds the work of the South Shore Health and Wellness to come to the aid of residents like him.
“It’s a wonderful job the committee has done to deliver some service to the community,’’ he says.
Campbell was impressed with the facility after having her first peek Friday.
“It’s marvelous,’’ she says.
“I didn’t realize it was so big. The doctors’ offices are lovely. There’s good incentive for the doctors to come here. We need a doctor so bad.’’
Dennison credits the hard work of the 13 members of the South Shore Health and Wellness board with growing from scratch a collaborative health care facility that is aiming to serve residents of Borden-Carleton, Kinkora, New Haven, Breadalbane, North Wiltshire and points in between.
“They have gone after the politicians with a will and a focus and a continuity that has made this happen and will continue to do that,’’ he says.
