Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas has brought up a situation that has arisen with the sudden death of a local family physician to illustrate the need to recognize the untapped potential held by nurse practitioners.
Dr. Jim McAlister passed away Feb. 9 at the age of 71, and his office is now permanently closed.
Patients of McAlister are being asked to go to the office Monday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. over the next two weeks to pick up their medical files, said a recent social media posting on the Valley East Facebook page.
“In a part of my riding called the Valley, we had three physicians retire in the last year, and, sadly, two weeks ago today, a very well-loved physician, Dr. McAlister, passed away quite suddenly, leaving behind thousands more patients, and there’s no physician replacement in sight,” Gélinas said in the legislature Feb. 24.
“But we have solutions. We have nurse practitioners who are willing and able to take on those orphaned patients. All we need is a minister’s signature. Carol, Dr. McAlister’s widow, called me and asked if I could get a nurse practitioner for her husband’s patients.”
Gélinas said Ontario has more than 1.5 million residents with no access to primary care - no family physician, no nurse practitioners. “In my riding, it is close to 30,000 people who do not have access,” she said.
She said the Capreol nurse practitioner clinic has asked multiple times for $293,000—not millions, $293,000—for an additional nurse practitioner, receptionist and social workers.
“They will be able to supply primary care to hundreds of additional patients, offer same-day appointments, after-hour appointments, provide mental health and much more,” said the MPP. “The Sudbury nurse practitioner clinic also presented a reasonable plan. We could, in a matter of weeks, change the lives of thousands of people by giving them access to primary care. We could support Dr. McAlister’s orphaned patients.
“Minister, the good people of Hanmer and Capreol need you to sign off on more nurse practitioner positions right now. Will you do it?”
