Rainy River's mayor shares hopes for new medical clinic opening Dec. 1

A new medical clinic will open its doors in Rainy River on Dec. 1.

Rainy River's mayor, Deborah Ewald told CBC's Superior Morningon Mondaythat the Town of Rainy River,Gizhewaadiziwin Health Access Centre, and Riverside Health Care are partners in the new clinic, which will support residents in the west end of the Rainy River District.

The new clinic will replace the Rainy River Medical Clinic.

In August, the Rainy River Physician Group announced it would stop providinghospital and clinic physician servicesat the Rainy River Medical Clinicdue to ongoing challenges negotiatinga new contract with the Ministry of Health.

Ewald told CBC's Superior Morningon Monday that the new Rainy River Clinic will be run as a non-profit corporation under new management. It will operate out of the same location as the current clinic, with the hope that existing staff will stay there.

The goal is to expand the number of doctors serving Rainy River from two to four, and to "find doctors who will actually move to Rainy River," said Ewald.

In mid-September, Riverside Health Care said it had "secured physician hospital services, including emergency room coverage, at the Rainy River Health Centre from Oct. 1, 2024, to Nov. 22, 2024," and was working to schedule locums for the remainder of the year.

"Staff from the Rainy River Medical Clinic will be offered positions at the new clinic, and locum physicians will continue to be recruited to ensure continuity of primary care/clinic and hospital physician services. The priority remains recruiting permanent physicians to the community of Rainy River," says the media release issued Friday about the new Rainy River Clinic.

"Engagement with the Rainy River Medical Clinic is ongoing to ensure smooth transition of all current clinic patients to the new clinic."

The new clinic was announced hours after the Rainy River Medical Clinic posted on Facebook that one of its nurse practitioners would stop providing services there as of Dec. 1.

Ramping up recruitment efforts

Currently, the doctors contracted in Rainy River work 24-7 one week a month, covering the primary care clinic, the hospital's emergency department, and the hospital's long-term care unit, said the town's mayor.

"They did it for 13 years, and I was absolutely amazed that that's how long that they practiced with that scenario," Ewald said, adding that burnout has been a big issue.

While she could not speak to the doctors' contracts with the Ministry of Health, Ewald said there's been strong recruitment efforts in the community, and she feels hopeful that having more doctors in the rotation will make the community's health-care system more sustainable.