A whirlwind of activity in recent months culminated in doctors and staff moving into Penticton's newest clinic on June 26, just days before it opens its doors.
The Colleen Schneider Medical Centre, located in the Community Futures building on Skaha Lake Road, was first announced in December 2024, with renovations beginning in 2025.
The aim was to get the new space up and running before the Community Walk-In Clinic at Apple Plaza closed. Thanks to the efforts of local builders including Greyback Construction, Sanders Green Architecture, Emergent Mechanical and Betts Electric, and fundraising from the community, they made their deadline, as Apple Plaza had its last day on June 26.
The South Okanagan Similkameen Health Care Society and the clinic's doctors officially moved in the same day, with a few extra boxes carried in ceremonially to mark the occasion during Community Future's 40th anniversary party in the afternoon.
"We can’t thank the community enough for the incredible support we’ve received over the past year,” said Kelly Hawes, executive director of the South Okanagan Similkameen Health Care Society. “Thanks to our partners at the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation, Community Foundation, Community Futures, and the Division of Family Practice, we’ve been able to go from breaking ground in February to opening our doors before summer—it still feels a bit surreal."
The medical centre isn't just going to be providing walk-in services either. On Aug. 1, the doctors at the Fairview Medical Clinic will move in as well to provide longitudinal service.
Once they move in, the medical centre will be one of the biggest clinics in the region, not in square-footage but in the number of doctors and nurse practitioners working out of it. Forty-two will be signed on to provide walk-in services, and 13 for family practices.
"In the atmosphere around the province where in many communities walk-in clinics are closing down, we feel incredibly blessed to be in a place where we're actually expanding," said Dr. Tim Phillips, chair of the South Okanagan Similkameen Healthcare Society, "to the point where hopefully we're going to be able to see about two to three times what we had seen in the previous site."
The walk-in clinic's lead, Dr. Tom Oliver, will actually be transitioning over at the end of the summer to providing longitudinal care, which becomes an option thanks to the team-based set-up at the medical centre.
"I'm joining a group of three that will share a panel between us, because we all have other responsibilities," Oliver said. "I'm in the hospital a lot, my one partner is in (the emergency department) and in the hospital a lot, the other is delivering babies, and so we want to be able to make sure that our joint patients are able to access care every weekday, and in order to do that, you can't do it as just an individual anymore."
The South Okanagan Similkmaeen Healthcare Society will handle the administrative end of operations at the clinic, allowing the doctors and nurse practitioners to focus on the important task of providing quality health care. That model has helped to bring attention to the clinic, and has even attracted new doctors to the community.
“When the clinic was announced earlier this year, it attracted three new family doctors who are moving to Penticton specifically to work here," said Tracy St Claire, executive director of the South Okanagan Similkameen Division of Family Practice."That’s the kind of impact this model can have.”
The Community Walk-In Clinic will be open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. starting June 30, with appointments bookable by phone at 778-622-7660, or in person at the clinic. The clinic will also be rolling out online booking in the future.
Fundraising is still ongoing for the clinic's growth, and for further projects supporting primary care in the region, and donations of any size are welcomed and can be made online at cfso.net/PrimaryCare.
