Huntsville will soon have a much needed walk-in clinic.
The Algonquin Family Health Team will set up a clinic at the Huntsville Public Library Annex, with the town waiving rental fees. It will be headed up by the health team’s Dr. Melanie Mar, who brought the idea to town council in July.
Council approved the idea at its last meeting of the term on Monday. Karin Terziano, Mayor of Huntsville, says it could be up and running as early as December.
“I’m hopeful the start of the month, but there’s some renos to be done and there’s obviously staffing at the clinic to be done,” says Terziano. “We’re getting close to the middle of November, so that might be a little bit optimistic, but hopefully we’ll see something operating before Christmas.”
Those renovations include minor changes to the inside of the building, and repairs to the parking lot. The town has earmarked $60,000 from the Capital Replacement Reserve for those repairs.
Terziano says they’re not yet sure how many medical practitioners will be available, and updates on that front will come from the health team. In her initial request, Mar said there were an estimated 1,700 Huntsville residents without a family doctor.
According to Terziano, this goes a long way to address that shortfall.
“I think everybody is well aware of how many unattached patients there are in Huntsville. There’s just far more people that don’t have a primary care physician in town,” says Terziano. “So anything we can do to help get those people to see a doctor or nurse practitioner, or some kind of a health care provider outside the emergency room at the hospital, is a huge win for everyone.”