The Flowerstone Family Health Clinic is in its new, permanent home on Memorial Ave. in Qualicum Beach and already has over 2,100 patients on their roster. (BC Government)

By Alex Rawnsley

HEALTHCARE LINK

New Oceanside nurse practitioner clinic aiming to connect with 7,000+ local residents

Jan 24, 2022 | 6:33 PM

QUALICUM BEACH — A growing medical clinic providing much-needed medical help for Oceanside residents is in their permanent home.

The Flowerstone Family Health Clinic has operated since October 2020, however, it wasn’t until Monday, Jan. 24 when they could officially christen in their new location on Memorial Ave.

Rosemary Graham, board chair for Flowerstone, told NanaimoNewsNOW their roster of five nurse practitioners as well as pharmacists, nurses and occasionally general practitioners can continue to provide access to daily medical needs.

“Nurse practitioners and general practice physicians, our objective is the same: to support patients. We’re the primary access point to the healthcare system for most people.”

Access to general practitioners and other specialists comes through the Oceanside Primary Care Network and enables patients to get access to help in a more streamlined fashion.

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Other auxiliary supports may include but are not limited to, mental health and addictions treatment.

Just over 2,100 people have registered at the clinic since October 2020, which takes patients living in Qualicum, Parksville, Nanoose and the rural Oceanside region including Errington, Coombs and Bowser.

Graham said not only are they currently serving over 2,000 people but there’s also room for more.

“We want to bring on more providers and the current providers are not yet at capacity. A couple are…but there’s room for most of the other NP’s to build their practices.”

Liz Gilmour, clinic director, said their contract with the provincial government stipulates each nurse practitioner onboard 800 patients in the next three years.

In addition to the 4,000 people able to be signed on currently, the clinic is looking to grow to upwards of 7,200 clients over the next few years.

“We do see between 15 and 20 patients a day, we have 20 minute appointments or longer depending on what patients come in with,” Gilmour said. “We’re actively recruiting a sixth nurse practitioner now and we’ve been advertising for a family physician to join us.”

Funding for the clinic came from the provincial government who offered up $1.4 million for startup costs and will supply annual operating costs of approximately $1.9 million.

Adam Walker, MLA for Parksville-Qualicum, said this clinic will help repatriate people who have needed to source primary care outside of the Oceanside region.

He added it’s a model which will also start to pop up elsewhere.

“This is one of many projects that are ongoing on the Island in planning phases and development and so we’re looking forward to future capacity improvements across our community.”

A similar initiative led to the opening of the Nexus clinic in Nanaimo in the summer of 2020.

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alex@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley