The City of Lakes Family Health Team (CoLFHT) is one step closer to opening a brand new clinic in Walden.
City Council approved a motion last evening to provide capital funding to transform the former Walden Town Hall into a medical clinic. A proposal will be submitted to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care to match the City’s share of capital funding so that the clinic can be ready to receive patients in 2010.
In August 20009, the CoLFHT announced that four new family physicians joined their team. The physicians, currently completing a Family Medicine Residency at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, are as follows: Dr. Sarah Duncan, Dr. Katherine Gasparini, Dr. Liisa Levasseur and Dr. Monica Susil. “We are so pleased that City Council is supporting the Walden Clinic,” said Dr. Gasparini. “It was really encouraging to hear Councillors speaking so positively about our family health team.”
In 2005, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care approved a CoLFHT proposal to open four clinics across the City of Greater Sudbury. Two existing clinics are located in Sudbury and Val Caron. Future clinical sites have been identified in Walden and Chelmsford. The Walden clinic will be located in the former Town of Walden municipal building located at 25 Black Lake Road. The properties are owned by the City of Greater Sudbury.
“This is great news for thousands of people across our community who are looking for a family physician,” said David Courtemanche, Executive Director of the CoLFHT. “Given the current economic climate, Council’s decision to support these physicians demonstrates their commitment to improving the local healthcare system and making primary healthcare accessible to citizens throughout the City.”
The City of Lakes Family Health Team is an interdisciplinary team of family physicians and health care professionals working collaboratively to provide comprehensive primary health care services to their patients. Family Health Teams are a key component of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care’s plan to build a health care system that delivers on three priorities - keeping Ontarians healthy, reducing wait times and providing better access to physicians and nurses.
Unattached patients seeking a family physician should not contact the Family Health Team or its physicians until the Walden clinic has been opened in 2010.