Kincardine council received a report on the future plans for the Hawthorne Community Clinic.
The Hawthorne Community Clinic is owned by the Municipality of Kincardine, and has a 100-year lease agreement with the South Bruce Grey Health Centre.
Manager of Strategic Initiatives Lorie Fioze shared how the clinic is currently leased to practitioners, and what should be done to meet current needs.
The facility currently has three tenant groups. On the upper floor is the Kincardine Family Health Organization, also known as the Kincardine Physicians Group, which is a group that is associated with the municipality’s physician recruitment strategy.
“Currently, we estimate that we have room for 13 physicians on the upstairs space in the clinic, but we’re estimating that we need 16 physicians just to meet the current population needs.”
She added that the estimate doesn’t include the projected need for the expected community growth that would come with the proposed Bruce C expansion project.
The second group, which occupies downstairs, is the Kincardine Family Health Team, which is a government organization that has allied healthcare workers, nurse practitioners, dieticians, social workers, and occupational therapists. Fioze says that that team has run out of space, and sometimes uses space in the Ripley Clinic.
Lastly, the McKechnie Pharmacy is the tenant in the final space. Fioze informed council that their lease is up for renewal, and they were hoping to get a new 10-year lease with the municipality.
Fioze says that they’re going to be bringing in an architect to help with design.
“In order to really fully understand the space needs, we thought the best way to utilize the limited space would be to secure the services of an architect to help us with some of the office design concepts that would accommodate future forecast numbers of the physicians [that are part of] the 16, but then also potential growth.”
She says that they also have to consider accessibility requirements from the AODA.
Staff will also get advice from the Kincardine Family Health Organization on space needs.