(December 9, 2023)<\/p>\n
By: Tyler Kelaher and Karis Mapp, Kitchener<\/p>\n
As Ontario\u2019s public health system continues to battle long wait times and a shortage of family doctors, a Kitchener nurse practitioner claims to have the first and only private health clinic in the area.<\/p>\n
Phlox Health in south Kitchener offers many of the same services as a public health clinic or family doctor \u2013 but operates as a private facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it\u2019s called \u2018private pay\u2019 because obviously not everybody has the money nor the accessibility, but we feel that it\u2019s very affordable and makes it accessible,\u201d said the nurse behind the clinic, Sandra Dudziak.<\/p>\n
Dudziak says she sees anywhere from seven to ten patients per day. Each pays a $75 flat rate per hour-long visit, with most primary services still covered by OHIP.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlood work, X-rays, things like that, are still covered,\u201d said Dudziak.<\/p>\n
Phlox Health believes it to be the first private nurse practitioner clinic in Waterloo Region and serves as an alternative for residents without a family doctor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a system that\u2019s poorly designed for the needs of people today in general,\u201d said Dr. George Heckman, an associate professor with the School of Public Health Sciences. \u201cAdd to that the shortages of family doctors, psychiatry, geriatrics, nursing and then you have the recipe for what we see now.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Ontario\u2019s public health system continues to battle long wait times and a shortage of family doctors, a Kitchener nurse practitioner claims to have the first and only private health clinic in the area.<\/p>\n
Phlox Health in south Kitchener offers many of the same services as a public health clinic or family doctor \u2013 but operates as a private facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it\u2019s called \u2018private pay\u2019 because obviously not everybody has the money nor the accessibility, but we feel that it\u2019s very affordable and makes it accessible,\u201d said the nurse behind the clinic, Sandra Dudziak.<\/p>\n
Dudziak says she sees anywhere from seven to ten patients per day. Each pays a $75 flat rate per hour-long visit, with most primary services still covered by OHIP.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlood work, X-rays, things like that, are still covered,\u201d said Dudziak.<\/p>\n
Phlox Health believes it to be the first private nurse practitioner clinic in Waterloo Region and serves as an alternative for residents without a family doctor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a system that\u2019s poorly designed for the needs of people today in general,\u201d said Dr. George Heckman, an associate professor with the School of Public Health Sciences. \u201cAdd to that the shortages of family doctors, psychiatry, geriatrics, nursing and then you have the recipe for what we see now.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for the Minister of Health said in part:<\/p>\n
\u201cOur government is proud to have one of the largest publicly-funded healthcare systems in the world. A system that we have invested $80 billion in this year alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement added that surgical backlog has been reduced to pre-pandemic levels, while workforce and hospital development is on the rise.<\/p>\n
The Ontario Health Coalition doesn\u2019t like Phlox Health\u2019s model.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo patient should ever had to pay for access to their medical care. That is a cornerstone in Canada. As a nurse, I would think that that should be unethical. They\u2019re supposed to be advocates to their patients. They\u2019re supposed to value equity as a core value in the access of their healthcare and this is not right,\u201d said executive director Natalie Mehra of the Ontario Health Coalition.<\/p>\n
But some patients aren\u2019t willing to wait for public healthcare to catch up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find coming here \u2013 everything I need happens almost immediately,\u201d said Phlox patient Tea Susnjar.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to sit waiting six hours for something that you could get here faster.\u201d<\/p>\n