The Rocky Medical Clinic aims to raise $1.9 million to fund its new building, which is currently under construction on the east end of Rocky Mountain House.
Located just off 44 St., officials say ground work started during the summer, with building construction slated to begin in the winter, and a summer 2025 target for the building to be open.
The building will serve to replace the aging existing clinic on 49 St., which Kristen Penick, clinic manager for the Rocky Medical Clinic says was rife with flaws.
Those include the fact that it was a bi-level with many stairs, says Penick, a patient lift elevator that she says was problematic more days than it was good, as well, the dated examination rooms.
Pennick says the option to stay in the nearly 45-year-old building was considered, but in the end, it was determined the cost of retrofitting it and the downtime required would be considerable.
The idea to build a brand new building had been talked about since around 2020, but up against the clock, with the lease on the current building set to expire in June 2025, officials say it decided to go with the new building.
Additionally, since 2010, Penick says the current building was leased from an agreement between the Town of Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County.
But with the new building, the agreement with Town and County will expire, and it will be completely community owned, says Penick.
“So it’s not physician owned,” says Penick. “The idea is that it is a community clinic. So everything that’s in the building stays with the building. So as physicians come in, everything is there for them to be able to join the practice.”
Penick says the model differs from that in many other towns where doctors own the building and set up a new practice for themselves, which can be very costly – especially for new doctors who are still paying off student loans.
Having the community owned building can help with physician recruitment and retention, says Penick, who also hopes to see the addition of two nurse practitioners thanks to a new Government of Alberta funding model.
The $1.9 million price tag is a hefty one, says Penick, and will be used to construct the building itself along with its minor surgical suites.
Ultimately, Penick says there will be four different businesses under the roof, two of which are the clinic and the Primary Care Network.
The construction envelope currently underway is another business’s portion, says Penick.
Construction site of the new Rocky Medical Clinic building as seen Oct. 2024. (94.5 Rewind Radio)
The organization acknowledges it’s aware of an open letter sent by local physicians outlining what it says are difficulties at the Rocky Regional Hospital Centre operating room, and the subsequent resignation of general surgeon Dr. Dawnelle Topstad.
Penick says the Rocky Medical Clinic was, and aims to continue to support the surgery program at the hospital.
“When [AHS] does recruit a new general surgeon to Rocky Mountain House, which we’re all very hopeful that it will be soon, the clinic now and then the new clinic, will have a place for them to practice, to see their surgical patients and do their consultations before surgery,” says Penick.
She adds there is a ripple effect to losing the community’s general surgeon that includes increases to wait times and travel to Red Deer, Olds or Innisfail.
In the meantime, the organization will be kicking off fundraising efforts in November to meet its “lofty” goal of $1.9 million to pay down the loan within two years.
The organization hopes to have the clinic building complete by summer 2025 or September 2025 at the latest.
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