Boréal launches new student clinic in Flour Mill

Residents in the Flour Mill neighbourhood, and the surrounding area, will now be able to access basic health-care services for free at the Bradley Pharmacy, thanks to a new partnership with Collège Boréal.

The college officially opened the Boréal Health Clinic at the pharmacy this week.
The clinic allows students in Boréal's nursing, dental hygiene, massage therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy to get real world experience as they learn.

“I think it's an unbelievable opportunity for them,” said Kim Morris, dean of Boréal's School of Health Sciences.“They're not going to be working in the college. They're going to be working in the community. This is an opportunity for them to interact with real patients.”

The students will offer patients the following basic health-care services under the supervision of their instructors: temperature, pulse, and blood-pressure checks, therapeutic massages, dental examinations and will host workshops to promote good health practices.

Morris said patients should note that the students may not be as efficient as fully trained professionals, but added they'll be under constant supervision while providing health-care services.

The clinic will also allow high school students at nearby École secondaire du Sacré-Cœur to observe their older peers while they provide a wide variety of services.

“I already had students doing co-op placements here in the pharmacy, so I thought why not expand the partnership at that level,” said Paul Henry, the school's principal.

Participating high school students are part of École secondaire du Sacré-Cœur specialist high skills major in health sciences.

Many of them, said Henry, move on to Collège Boréal or Laurentian University to pursue health-care degrees after they graduate from high school.