Sun Peaks Community Health Association continues work to recruit health-care providers

October will mark one year since the Sun Peaks Community Health Centre suspended operations. 

While progress has been made in reestablishing the Sun Peaks Community Health Association as a dedicated body to manage the clinic, setting up a new board and updating the association’s bylaws, there is still no timeline for when a doctor will be in the building. 

“I don’t know when the health centre will open again with a physician,” Alice Muirhead, president of the Sun Peaks Community Health Association said.

The association is working to reopen the clinic with “other health service providers” within the next few months, but Muirhead declined to specify in which disciplines as she said no contracts have been signed.

The clinic will reopen under a community-led health centre model, Muirhead explained. 

This model was an alternative to the Sun Peaks Health Centre Working Group’s initial recommendation of a family practice clinic. 

According to the working group’s final report, operating under this model allows for a community governance structure, wrap-around services and broad interdisciplinary providers.

“But before the doors can open, we have to recruit those providers,” Muirhead said. “We have to develop contracts and lease agreements with them. We have to organize workflow and the flow of the space, how people will use and simple things like garbage collection and cleaning, internet access. There’s a few different things that have to fall into place.”

Funding is an additional piece of the puzzle under this operational model. As opposed to a family practice model, which is primarily funded on a fee-for-service basis, a community health centre requires funding from the Ministry of Health, according to the working group’s report. 

“Unfortunately, there isn’t very much money available in the province right now from the Ministry of Health,” Muirhead said. 

The health association board is seeking funding from the Primary Care Network, which supports nurse practitioners in the area, and the Thompson Division of Family Practice, Muirhead added.

“Funding could also come from Interior Health,” she explained. “Mayor [Rob] O’Toole and I have had some conversations with the primary care division of Interior Health to sort that out.”

“Unfortunately, there isn’t a magic number that you call and just ask for money. It’s pretty complex with all the different sources.”

Despite the challenges of securing funding and recruiting healthcare providers, Muirhead said the association remains focused on reopening the health centre “in a way that’s sustainable.”

“I know everybody really wants to see the centre open again, but we don’t want to rush to open and then have to close again after a few months because maybe we’ve run out of money, or we haven’t figured things out properly,” Muirhead said. “We are really trying to do our due diligence and take steps really thoughtfully.”