Colwood is exploring the feasibility of the city opening a non-profit medical clinic with private-sector partners, after the idea earned unanimous approval from council.
Staff and legal counsel will now prepare a business case for the initiative spearheaded by Mayor Doug Kobayashi and a number of doctors and private-sector partners.
One doctor involved with the project said the proposal and others like it could be a pathway out of the primary-care crisis in Canada.
Dr. Jesse Pewarchuck, an internal medicine specialist and co-founder at Aroga Lifestyle Medicine, said the shortage of family doctors in the capital region means health-care specialists are taking on work that would normally be the purview of family physicians, creating further delays in health care.
Pewarchuck said the entrepreneurial style of family practice is losing favour with medical graduates. “We’re asking these graduates to commit to two full-time jobs, one being a doctor, the other being a business person.”
B.C.’s health-care system has not adapted to the demographic change in family-medicine graduates, who have been overwhelmingly female for the past 10 years, he said.
“The system is designed essentially for men. It gives absolutely no support when it comes to maternity leave [and] when it comes to parental leave.”
His company, Agora, is one of the two private-sector firms interested in joining the project. The other is Pure Integrative Pharmacy of the Jim Pattison Group.
Pewarchuck has personal reasons for being involved.
He grew up in Colwood and went to Dunsmuir Middle School. He was once chief of internal medicine for Island Health in charge at Victoria General Hospital and the Royal Jubilee.
His wife, Nicole Pewarchuck, is a family doctor who is also providing input to Colwood’s clinic initiative.
Pewarchuck believes that a “cleverly structured” municipal team‑based health clinic could solve many of the problems in family medicine.
“If I’m able to be a small part of what may one day be one of the major planks to solving this provincial crisis when it comes to primary care — well, I’ll be able to retire a happy man.”
At Monday’s council meeting, Kobayashi said there are other municipalities in B.C. that are already in the business of delivering health-care services as a partner, co-funder or direct agent.
Several Colwood councillors shared their recent frustrations with the health-care system.
Coun. Ian Ward said he had a “major internal organ issue” eight weeks ago that required emergency surgery and sat on a lawn chair outside the Westshore Urgent and Primary Care Centre two hours before opening to make sure he could be seen — “and probably half the people in the line [with me] didn’t get in.”
Coun. Cynthia Day said when she broke her ankle last spring, it took days for her and her husband — who was also experiencing health issues — to be seen for care. “A one-legged woman and a disabled man, both trying to access services in this crazy system. We were turned away from the urgent care centre. We were waiting for eight, nine hours at a time in emergency.”
The Ministry of Health said in a statement Tuesday it will continue to stay engaged with Colwood and other communities that are establishing team-based clinics and care models.
“We welcome the Mayor and community’s efforts to work with the Ministry and other local partners such as the Western Community Primary Care Network (PCN) to ensure everyone has access to a primary care provider,” the statement said.
— with files from Cindy E. Harnett
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