Mallorytown, Ont. walk-in clinic set to close, leaving thousands without a doctor

MALLORYTOWN, ONT. -

With the Ontario government's decision to reduce pay for virtual visits from doctors, encouraging more in-person visits, practices have been forced to scale back operations or close.

That situation has hit the rural village of Mallorytown, Ont., west of Brockville, where its walk-in clinic will shut its doors on Jan. 20.

For residents in the village and the surrounding area, it leaves them with very few options for healthcare nearby, and sparked one resident to start collecting signatures to try to keep the doors open.  

"When the pharmacy came, it was an excellent addition to our rural area, and then the clinic came and it has been used continually ever since," Angie Cowan said.

"I couldn't understand how the Ontario government could close an essential service when our hospitals in Brockville and everywhere are in crisis mode," she said. "Overcrowded, clogged with people who shouldn't be there. They should be with a family doctor but they don't have one."

Jennifer Peirson is without a family doctor and has had serious health issues.

This clinic has been essential for her. 

"I am very grateful to have this in our community," she said. "Without having a family physician, this has literally been a lifesaver for me."

"I am able to come here and speak to (pharmacist) Mayur (Vadher) and speak to the nurse who knows me on a personal basis, and it keeps me from going to the emergency department," Peirson said.

"(I'm) very upset, and almost sick to my stomach. I thought how could there be more cutbacks when more and more people are without a family physician?"

Mallorytown, Ont. resident Angie Cowan is collecting signatures in a bid to save the walk-in clinic at the Mallorytown Pharmacy and Health Centre. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

The clinic is run by a company called Good Doctors. It provides virtual doctor visits with the help of a nurse. There is no doctor on site. 

"She takes your vitals, gets all your information and then they get somebody virtually, a doctor, on the computer and you go from there," Peirson added.

On Dec. 1, 2022, the province reduced what it will pay for this type of service.

Good Doctors CEO Leo Liao says they simply can't operate.

"The rate has been cut from $37 to $20, and now suddenly it's just not viable," Liao said. "We want to make sure all the nurses get paid, the doctor gets paid and we can have it break even."

"We're set up in small places like Cochrane, Ont., even Thorne, where the population could be a few hundred," Liao said. "We serve first nations communities, and we're hoping to do more of that because that is part of our goal."

"We have a lot of experience doing this and have around 700,000 patient encounters in Ontario," he added. 

Between January and November 2022, the Mallorytown clinic saw 1,062 patient visits.

Since it opened in September 2019, more than 3,000 people have used it.

"Many don't have family doctors, they have young children, they have no transportation," resident Alison Wilson said. "We've saved 3,000 trips to the emerg since the clinic opened. Its total insanity."

With this clinic closed, more pressure will be put on local hospitals, with the closest one in Brockville 20 minutes away.

"You're taking up space from people that really need to be in the emergency room, when you're just really getting a prescription," Peirson said. 

"We have a crisis in the medical system as it is, so this is going to be an even bigger, worse crisis than what we've got," Cowan said. 

"In-person is fantastic medical, but we cannot get it," she said. "Those who have doctors find it hard to get in, and those who don't have doctors have no alternative to use a clinic or emergency."

A look inside the Mallorytown Pharmacy and Health Centre walk-in clinic. The walk-in clinic will close on Jan. 20 after Ontario reduced pay for virtual doctor visits. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Pharmacy owner Mayur Vadher says there is lots of demand for this type of rural healthcare.

"We are very busy," he said. "(Residents) are frustrated, they want more from the government, local MPPs who can do something and start this program again as soon as possible."

Front of Yonge Mayor Roger Haley says for a township of just under 3,000 residents, getting this clinic open again is the top priority.

"It's a serious loss to the community and we'll have to start from scratch, but that's where we're intending to go with that," Haley said.

"We'll keep pushing to see if we can get the funding restored and then do whatever we have to do after that to get the program up and running," he added. 

"It's the only show in town and it doesn't serve just the township here, there are people coming from surrounding communities, Brockville, Lansdowne, and so forth because the emergency departments are clogged, they are jammed up."

Haley has been in talks with MPP Steve Clark about the closure, whose office sent a letter to Health Minister Sylvia Jones in December.

Neither has heard back from the minister, but Clark has agreed to meet those affected in the community in the days ahead.

"We've got a very determined bunch of people and the more people we talk to, the more people who want to get involved," Haley said. "Hopefully, we can get this service up and running after it closes."

"I can't tell you by getting the petition signed, how many people have told me of their situation and it's devastating," said Cowan, whose efforts have collected more than 1,000 signatures in three days. 

"People just appreciate our pharmacist, who is excellent, and the clinic and it should remain open," she said. 

Liao says other clinics have been funded by the municipality, like the Good Doctors clinic in Ramona Township, east of Barrie.

He says that township took its doctor recruiting funds and reallocated it to pay for a nurse in a community walk-in clinic.

"In these small communities, it's very difficult to attract doctors to come into the community because the population is not big enough, you don't have enough sick people, they don't make enough money," he said.

Liao is confident, however, that if funding can be restored in Mallorytown, the clinic will re-open.

"That's our goal, our reason to exist here," he said. "The question is, how?"