‘I wanted to help these people get the care they needed in this community, without having to leave,’ Dr. Chris Nolan says of the reasoning behind his clinic
When Orillia Cardiac Care opened its doors on Frederick Street at the end of August, it quietly marked a turning point for local health care.
For the first time, residents no longer need to travel to Barrie, Newmarket or Toronto for essential consultations and testing with a cardiologist.
The new clinic is led by Dr. Christopher Nolan, who finished an advanced echocardiography fellowship this summer and immediately chose to bring his skills to a community he believes has long been underserved.
“Orillia is an underserved population for all medical services,” Nolan said. “Many patients in Orillia are currently going to get their cardiac care in Barrie, Toronto or even Hamilton because there are not enough resources here to see everyone. I wanted to help keep the cardiac care of these patients local.”
The move is a homecoming of sorts. Nolan completed medical school at McMaster University, trained in internal medicine and cardiology at the University of Manitoba, and capped it off with subspecialty training in Hamilton. Along the way, he worked in Winnipeg and Barrie, but with both his and his wife’s families rooted in Simcoe County, he knew where he wanted to build his first full-time practice.
“I love the sense of community the residents of Orillia have,” he said. “I wanted to help these people get the care they needed in this community, without having to leave.”
At the clinic, patients are already being referred through family physicians, specialists, and hospital discharges for a wide range of services, from echocardiograms and Holter monitors to treadmill stress tests and stress echocardiograms. Nolan said most of the cases he expects to see will mirror broader trends across Canada.
“By far the most common cardiac condition in Canada is coronary artery disease, or cholesterol plaque buildup in the arteries of the heart,” he explained. “Some of these people will have chest pain only when they exercise, and the goal is to keep these people from having their first heart attack and allow them to keep living an active lifestyle. Unfortunately, some of these people will have had a heart attack prior to me seeing them.”
Reducing wait times is one of the immediate impacts, but Nolan emphasized accessibility is just as important.
“When patients need to travel long distances to places like Barrie, Newmarket or Toronto, it can be quite taxing on them,” he said. “Keeping them local means they spend less time travelling and more time in the community being engaged and being active.”
That local-first approach extends to how Nolan views collaboration. He has already begun working with Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital and community physicians, and said the goal is to strengthen what already exists.
“Orillia has already had a great local care network for looking after various cardiac conditions, and I want to add to that already great network of providers,” he said.
Nolan hopes Orillia Cardiac Care will grow to include more providers and services, reducing the need for residents to leave town for anything but the most advanced procedures. Part of that vision includes preventive care, such as adding a dietitian to the team.
“My goal is that Orillia Cardiac Care continues to grow and bring more resources to the area,” Nolan said. “Ultimately, I see Orillia Cardiac Care as an integral piece in part of the network of care that brings high-quality cardiac care to the Orillia area.”