Sun Peaks’ doctor, Shane Barclay, will be leaving his practice on June 28.
Barclay has been working in Sun Peaks for six years, since the launch of Sun Peaks Health Centre.
“No one really had a permanent physician unless they were seen by somebody in Kamloops,” he said about Sun Peaks prior to the centre opening. Since coming to Sun Peaks, he was able to attach residents to a family physician.
Though not the only physician in town, he is the only one working full-time. Signy Frank works part-time on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Luckily, Barclay was able to find a replacement in Catherine Nowierski, who has agreed to take on his patients from Sun Peaks down to Whitecroft.
“It has been a very rewarding and delightful place to live and work,” he said of his time in Sun Peaks. “I wish all the best for the ongoing clinic, staff, Dr. Nowierski and Dr. Frank.”
Patient transferrals and clinic operations
Nowierski was working in Northern Ontario, but her family wanted to move out to B.C.
“It worked out very well,” he said. “Most physicians that have retired in Kamloops and elsewhere and all of their patients have been sort of released to the wind in a way, so the fact that we’ve been able to cover the bulk of the patients is very, very good in my books.”
Currently, Nowierski is working a couple days a week at the Sun Peaks Health Centre, figuring out the flow and processes, as well as meeting some patients.
“Whether or not she’ll be taking on new ones, people who have moved permanently to Sun Peaks, I think that will be determined by the volume she has,” he said.
The clinic has tried to take on patients who have moved permanently to Sun Peaks as well as seasonal workers, Barclay said.
“Most everyone who is a permanent resident here is a patient of the clinic,” he said, adding that they’ll all likely be taken on by Nowierski.
At this point, Barclay said all his patients have been emailed.
“I think we’ve got most people, but not everybody figured out,” he said about the transferrals.
According to him, all current and permanent residents will be covered by Nowierski. Residents who are not full time and permanent, and those who have moved will not be.
For his Kamloops patients, Barclay said a physician in Kamloops has agreed to take on those over the age of 60. He estimates the number of patients in Kamloops who will be losing a doctor is somewhere between 600 to 800.
Additionally, as far as he knows, he said the urgent care clinic in Sun Peaks will continue to operate the same way, on weekends during shoulder season and all week during the winter.
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