The closure of The Parsons Clinic at the end of this week will mark the conclusion of 78 years of medical practice. However, much of the resulting void should be filled next Tuesday with the arrival of two new clinics and pharmacies in the city — along with an integrated approach to health care.
Piper Creek Medical Clinic and Discovery Medical Clinic are both scheduled to open in south Red Deer next Tuesday. Each will have an adjacent pharmacy: Piper IDA Pharmacy and Gaetz Avenue IDA Pharmacy.
Piper Creek Medical Clinic, which will be located on the second floor of 32nd Street Crossing at 4758 32nd St., will offer family medical services by appointment Monday to Friday. Its medical staff will include seven of the doctors currently practising at The Parsons Clinic: Drs. Peter Bouch, Dave Elliot, Colin Holmes, Richard Moffat, Aimee Phillpot, Neil Stewart and Tony Williams.
An eighth physician, Dr. Erin Thompson, is slated to join Piper Creek Medical Clinic in mid-July, with a ninth expected by late summer. Elliot and Stewart will each practise half-time, said Bouch.
Hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., five days a week, with patients able to book same-day appointments, said Bouch.
He thinks the clinic’s proximity to Piper IDA Pharmacy — the two facilities even share an entrance — should enhance efficiencies and patient care.
“It’s certainly going to be great to have them down there.”
Bouch, who is the chairman of Red Deer’s Primary Care Network, added that family nurses and mental health workers with that organization will also be on site.
“On the ground floor we’ll have the Primary Care Network.”
Discovery Medical Clinic will operate at 3410 Gaetz Ave., with two physicians on staff to begin with: Dr. Christo Koen, who previously practised in Bashaw, and Dr. Francois Grimbeek, who is from Manitoba.
An official with the clinic, who did not want to be identified, said there is space for as many as eight doctors. A psychiatrist and at least one other medical specialist are expected to join the clinic, as is a physiotherapist.
Discovery will also operate a walk-in clinic nearby, with both open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The walk-in clinic’s weekend hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
The clinic official said he expects the mix of treatment by appointment and walk-in service to ensure patients are cared for on a timely and efficient manner.
As with Piper Creek Medical Clinic, Discovery Medical Clinic will also have close ties to the pharmacy there.
In fact, Gaetz Avenue IDA Pharmacy is situated between it and Discovery’s walk-in clinic, and shares common space.
Longtime Red Deer pharmacist Dan Ding will own both pharmacies, with pharmacist Bonnie Mand the operations manager at both.
They said they are pleased to work and collaborate with their medical counterparts at the two clinics.
“It makes it more conducive for medication reviews, having the docs here, the nurses here, the pharmacists — all in one locale,” said Mand.
“We’re here to support the physicians,” added Ding. “And the patients benefit in the end.”
For instance, he said, a pharmacist could easily confer with a doctor about issues related to a patient’s medication history.
Mand said she hopes to offer educational seminars on health issues.
Both pharmacies will be Rexall affiliates. Rather than prescription drop-off and pick-up stations, each will have a number of semi-private “pods” where patients speak directly with a pharmacist and watch them prepare their medications.
Mand said this will promote interaction between patient and pharmacist, and also reduce wait times.
Each pharmacy will also has a private consulting room, with the Piper IDA Pharmacy able to blister-pack medications for those who want this customized service.
The hours at both pharmacies will be the same as the clinics they serve, with Piper IDA Pharmacy operating Monday to Friday, and Gaetz Avenue IDA Pharmacy seven days a week.
Despite the improved facilities the doctors from The Parsons Clinic will have at their new location, Bouch said it’ll be tough to leave the premises that some worked in for 30-plus years.
“There’s definitely some mixed emotions for sure,” said Bouch, who practised at The Parsons Clinic for about 13 years.
There should be plenty of familiar faces, however, with the doctors keeping their patients and support staff.
“All the staff that we hired were people that were working here already,” said Bouch.
The Parsons Clinic was founded by brothers MacGregor and William Parsons in 1944. The two doctors were the sons of Dr. Richard Parsons, who became Red Deer’s first physician in 1903.
hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com