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Proceeds from a medical clinic the Town of Niverville purchased for $1 paid for its new expansion.
New exam rooms, in what used to be hotel rooms at the Niverville Heritage Centre complex, were unveiled in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday.
The town bought Open Health Niverville in 2020 as its surging population increased demand for doctors. Niverville’s population has grown from fewer than 2,000 in 2001 to a town-estimated 8,000 today.
“As we move our community to 12,000 people here over the next decade, we’re looking forward to some really large expansions when it comes to our medical care facility in our community,” deputy mayor Nathan Dueck said.
He is also president of the non-profit Niverville Health Care Services, which the town created to run the clinic.
More than 200 patients use the clinic each day, said Sheyna Andries, Niverville’s director of health services.
The expansion brings the total exam rooms to 15, including two minor invasive procedure beds.
Open Health Niverville is owned by the town and run by its non-profit Niverville Health Care Services. (Christopher Gareau/CBC)
“We can do sutures, suture removals. We can do the lumps and bumps procedures, if you will. So, that goes with mole removals, skin biopsies, IUD insertions,” Andries said.
The two doctors who sold their clinic to the town, Chris and Mairi Burnett, are both retiring this spring.
That will leave the town with 14 doctors available to work part-time at the clinic. The town continues to recruit more physicians, with the goal of expanding hours and services.
The expansion took 16 months to complete.
Niverville Health Care Services spent just over $250,000 on the expansion.
The Town of Niverville has spent $370,000 on the clinic over the past six years, town spokesperson Cyrus Reimer said.