A long tradition of nursing care in the community
VON has been providing nursing care in local communities for over a century. In addition to caring for clients in their home, we also provide a wide range of nursing care in community nursing clinics, which include nurse practitioner clinics, community nursing clinics, nursing clinics with French-speaking providers, and a nursing clinic to meet the unique needs of immigrants and refugees .
Being part of a community allows clinic staff to form relationships with residents to ensure they receive the care and support they need. This is certainly the case in our clinic in Port Hope, ON, which opened its doors in September 2021. The clinic is run and staffed by registered nurses (RNs) and registered practical nurses (RPNs), who provide comprehensive nursing care. An RN with specialized training visits the clinic weekly to deliver enterostomal therapy such as wound care and ostomy care.
The Port Hope nursing clinic is not a walk-in clinic. Clients must be referred by the Central East Health atHome (formerly the Central East Home and Community Care Support Services) agency. The clinic also works closely with the local hospital and other care providers, which has a direct impact on emergency department volumes and hospital length-of-stay.
“So far we've received incredibly positive feedback from all of the patients, both new patients and those who opted to transfer from our in-home services,” says Sarah Bradshaw, the clinic's administrative assistant.
We also operate 13 nurse practitioner clinics in communities across Ontario. One such clinic is in Saugeen Shores. As of October 2021, we hired a second nurse practitioner for the site. The clinic is making a big difference when it comes to local access to care. Each NP can have up to 500 registered patients and time is also dedicated to urgent-care appointments as there is a high number of seasonal or other short-term residents who don't have a local primary care provider.
For more information about our nursing clinics, visit the Health in the Community page of our site.
