N.B. government spending $1.7 to expand another collaborative care clinic

The N.B. health minister is promising a plan to address long-term care after a Health Network CEO warned it’s a crisis situation.

The New Brunswick government has announced a second collaborative care clinic expansion in a week, this time in Nackawic-Millville.

Health Minister Dr. John Dornan announced $1.7 million will be spent to expand the existing Nackawic Health Centre, which has served the community for 28 years and sees about 2,700 patients.

The money will help lease a new 4,000-square-foot space that sits alongside the health centre. A third nurse practitioner, a social worker, physiotherapist and respiratory therapist will be added to the existing team. They’re also recruiting for two additional physicians.

Dornan says the aim is to add 1,163 patients off the current waitlist.

“We want every New Brunswicker attached to a primary-care provider,” Dornan said.

A spokesperson for Horizon Health says people should be on-boarded into the clinic within the next 12-15 months.

Michelle Daniels, a nurse practitioner at the centre since 2016, says she’s asked by patients all the time if she can take on their loved ones too.

Daniels also shared that she’s watched her colleagues struggle with the workload and the urge to help everyone for a long time and they’re excited about the expansion.

“Today is a day we’ve waited for so long,” she said.

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