A new community-led and run clinic set to bring doctors to the city will be brought before Penticton council on Dec. 3 to ask for their support.
The new community clinic will be operated by the South Okanagan Similkameen Health Care Society in partnership with SOS Division of Family Practice, Community Futures, Community Foundation and the SOS Medical Foundation.
The organizations are asking for waivers for permitting fees and to prioritize the permits necessary to get the clinic up and running.
The new community clinic expands on the walk-in clinic that was opened in October of 2023, after the Apple Plaza Walk-In Clinic closed its doors.
Since then, the SOS Health Care Society has come onboard to manage the clinic ahead of the proposed expansion to include primary, long-term care.
The new clinic is proposed to be located at the Community Futures building on Waterford Ave.
So far the organizations have gotten the signed commitments from nine existing primary care providers to provide long-term care at the clinic, and three new physicians who signed a commitment to work at the clinic and move to the area to do so.
According to the agenda package going before city council, those doctors could attach 3,000 additional patients from the community for longitudinal care.
In addition to the long-term care, the clinic will continue to offer walk-in service, with 15 physicians having signed commitments to shifts at the clinic.
