With a concerted effort on multiple fronts, 14 Wing Greenwood Regular Force military members’ dependents can now expect a call to be added to the Greenwood Family Medical Centre’s patient roster.
At his June 29 change of command ceremony, one of the last things outgoing Deputy Wing Commander Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Travis was able to announce was a zero wait list for the centre.
The work has been a long process, started under Travis’ predecessor, Lieutenant-Colonel Dale King, in 2019; as access to healthcare in Nova Scotian emergency rooms and walk-in clinics, collaborative practices and physicians’ offices became increasingly difficult. The wing’s decade-plus partnership with the Nova Scotia Health Authority, hosting a collaborative practice office on the base, with shared healthcare for military members’ dependents and the wider community; has been invaluable – but also becoming inaccessible.
The wing assigned personnel to work on the centre’s patient roster: if military families had moved, found another healthcare provider or had their military member leave the Canadian Armed Forces, could spaces be freed up for incoming military families?
14 Wing Greenwood also joined the community-driven physician and healthcare provider recruitment efforts of both the Mid Valley Region Physician Recruitment & Retention committee and the Annapolis Valley Chamber of Commerce. The base has helped support visits and work-terms of potential healthcare providers as students, during training periods and as they do, in fact, move to the area with access to base facilities; hosted special events, including appreciation receptions and even fun swims for medical workers’ families; and helped with recruitment tools, such as pictures and video tours of the area.
“By reviewing the patient list, we did free up spots,” Travis said. “People had posted, and then we were able to do a critical review of people still supported by the centre. We had maybe 450 or 500 military dependents on the waiting list – today, it’s zero.”
A new doctor at the clinic in recent months – able to accept 1,200 patients, with additional partnerships with NSHA for dietician, nurse practitioner, occupational therapist and social work staffing; and with support from the base’s own Greenwood Military Family Resource Centre, has also helped immensely.
“That clinic’s team can now refer patients out to see other providers and resources, and do a lot right in house – it’s good continuity of care, with what the resources are,” says NSHA health services manager Jennifer Kelday. “We had quite a backlog of military families, with new people posted in, and we’ve worked through that.
“We know with this family clinic, and military families moving every two years – they may never get a family doctor or nurse practitioner.”
JoAnne Wentzell is the director of primary health care for NSHA’s western zone. She says the wing and wider community’s efforts to support healthcare worker recruitment and retention is a “real piece of the discussions, and has a big role in welcoming” potential newcomers. By helping make space and a good working environment, the Greenwood centre has been able to “do what it can to help military members’ dependents,” and more community residents looking for care.
Kelday says the clinic staff accepts patients from the provincial Need a Family Practice registry, taking military dependents who have both registered and identified themselves at the clinic; and community members who have been on the registry the longest. While it may take several months for the clinic to accept, for example, 50 new patients, arrange intake assessments, source medical records and fully absorb them into care; once files are established, the clinic staff will contact NSHA for another set of patient names from the registry. The clinic also helps outgoing military families gather medical records to take with them to their new posting.
Military dependents’ FAQs to access the Greenwood Family Medical Centre
The Greenwood Family Medical Clinic is operated by the Nova Scotia Health Authority, and is located in the 14 Wing Greenwood Morfee Centre, School Road. The clinic treats community members and dependents of 14 Wing Greenwood Regular Force members.
Regular Force military members are served by the 14 Wing Greenwood on-base clinic, 26 Canadian Forces Health Services Centre.
Regular Force military members’ dependents in need of a physician should register with the Need a Family Practice registry; then also contact the Greenwood Family Medical Centre. Pregnant dependents, and families with a new baby, should contact the centre right away for priority care (you do not need to register with the NSHA program: call the Greenwood Family Medical Centre directly).
Reserve Force members and their dependents in need of a physician should register with the Need a Family Practice registry, as community members do.
If you need a family doctor, register with the NSHA (Regular Force dependents, Reserve Force members and dependents, all community members): online at needafamilypractice.nshealth.ca, or by phone at call 811, Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.Greenwood Family Medical Centre phone: 902-765-6340
