Pressure on family doctors and the Urgent Care Centre in Cochrane will be somewhat relieved with the opening of a new family practice clinic slated for early March on Griffin Road.
Dr. Uche Nwadike, a family physician from Bearspaw, is planning on taking a big chunk out of the list of people currently looking for a family doctor in town, while relieving some of the intense pressure being felt at the Cochrane Urgent Care Centre.
They will be looking to go from zero to 8,000 patients in a short time.
“We are on course to open our brand new clinic in Cochrane this March. Our clinic will open with two physicians (a male and a female) in the beginning with two more (another male and female) to join by June bringing the total to four,” Nwadike told The Eagle. Two of the new doctors will be from the U.K.
The new facility will provide full scope family practice with a walk-in clinic.
If all goes according to plan, Nwadike said he’s looking at a target date for opening the doors on the office space next month at 239 Griffin Rd.
“Right now we’re racing towards March 7,” he said.
Anyone interested in getting to the front of the queue or looking for more information can call 403-513-6040.
He said he chose Cochrane to open the new clinic because with the Urgent Care Centre here, it just made sense. Patients with non-urgent care needs will now have another option, with (hopefully) shorter wait times.
Nwadike said he saw the pent-up demand in Cochrane, which made the decision easy. He doesn’t see the business decision as risky at all.
“It’s not a big risk. Our health care system is under so much pressure – we don’t have enough family doctors,” he said.
When fully staffed with four doctors, Nwadike said he expects they will be able to provide primary medical care for around 8,000 patients. That represents a large proportion of residents currently without a family doctor living in Cochrane and the surrounding area.
“We think there’s over 10,000 residents in Cochrane without a family physician so we’re confident this will be well-received,” Nwadike said.
They haven’t done any advertising yet, but he plans to put out 10,000 flyers in the coming days, which should make for a busy time.
“Once that happens I’m sure our phones will be ringing non-stop.”
