I stepped into Centre CHC Community Health Clinic on a bright Tuesday morning as patients filtered through the waiting area. Some scrolled their phones anxiously, others chatted with the receptionist who knew most by name. For 27-year-old Melissa Doiron, today marked the end of a four-year stretch without a family doctor.
“I actually cried when I got the call,” she told me, her voice softening. “My health issues weren’t life-threatening, but they were life-altering. Without a primary care provider, everything became either an emergency room visit or something I just learned to live with.”
Stories like Melissa’s have become distressingly common across New Brunswick, where approximately 69,000 residents remain on the Patient Connect NB registry waiting for primary care. But a new $2.1 million investment announced last week aims to change that narrative by expanding collaborative care teams across the province.
The funding will support 16 existing collaborative practice clinics while establishing three new ones in previously underserved communities. Health Minister Bruce Fitch described the initiative as “addressing the healthcare access crisis at its root.”
“This isn’t just about adding more doctors,” Fitch explained during our interview at the funding announcement in Moncton. “It’s about rethinking how we deliver primary care by bringing together physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, and other health professionals under one roof with integrated services.”
The collaborative model represents a fundamental shift in how family medicine operates in the province. Rather than the traditional one-patient-one-doctor approach, these teams distribute care responsibilities based on patient needs and provider expertise.
Dr. Anick Pelletier has worked in both models during her 15-year career and now leads a collaborative practice in Edmundston. When I visited her clinic last month, the difference was immediately apparent – examination rooms surrounded a central workspace where providers consulted each other between appointments.
“In the old system, I was drowning,” Dr. Pelletier admitted. “I had 2,800 patients and was burning out trying to be everything to everyone. Now our team shares that load, and I can focus on complex cases while our nurse practitioner handles routine care and our social worker addresses mental health needs.”
The results speak for themselves. Collaborative practices have managed to reduce emergency department visits by nearly 22% among their patients, according to a 2023 New Brunswick Health Council report. More importantly for waitlisted patients, these clinics can typically serve 25-30% more patients than traditional practices with the same number of physicians.
For communities like Blackville, one of the locations receiving a new collaborative clinic, the impact could be transformative. Mayor Ian Fortune described how the lack of local primary care has affected his rural community.
“We’ve had neighbors driving two hours for basic healthcare,” Fortune said as we walked through the town’s main street. “Our seniors, young families – they deserve better than that. This clinic means our community has a future.”
But challenges remain. The New Brunswick Medical Society has expressed support for the collaborative model while cautioning that recruitment difficulties persist. Dr. Paula Keating, the society’s president, cited concerns about compensation models and administrative burdens.
“We applaud the investment but need sustainable solutions to attract and retain healthcare providers,” Dr. Keating noted in our phone conversation. “New Brunswick competes with every province for a limited pool of family medicine graduates.”
The staffing reality is that these new clinics will rely heavily on international medical graduates and health professionals from various backgrounds. Dr. Aman Sood, who moved from Punjab, India to practice in Saint John three years ago, represents the changing face of New Brunswick healthcare.
“I came for opportunity, but I stayed because the team approach here aligns with my training,” Dr. Sood explained during our meeting at his clinic. “In collaborative care, I practice better medicine because I have colleagues to consult daily. My patients benefit from multiple perspectives.”
For patients like the Thompsons, a family of four who recently found care through a collaborative clinic in Fredericton after a three-year wait, the new funding represents hope. Karen Thompson described the difference in their healthcare experience since joining the practice.
“Before, my children’s asthma meant periodic panicked trips to the ER,” she said while we sat in their family home. “Now we have an asthma action plan from our provider team, regular check-ins with a respiratory therapist, and I have a number to call when questions arise. It’s night and day.”
The Department of Health expects the expanded collaborative care initiative to connect at least 20,000 patients with primary care providers over the next 18 months. For those still waiting, the message is one of realistic optimism.
As I prepared to leave the clinic where I’d met Melissa Doiron, I noticed an elderly gentleman being greeted with warm familiarity by the receptionist. “Third visit this month,” she joked with him. “We should name a chair after you.”
He laughed, then turned to me. “Four years ago, I couldn’t get anyone to look at my bad knee. Now I’ve got a whole team that knows me. That’s worth the wait.”
For thousands of New Brunswickers still checking their phones daily for that life-changing call from Patient Connect NB, the expanded collaborative care initiative offers something essential – not just potential healthcare, but potential healing for a system straining to care for everyone who needs it.
