The process of establishing a non-profit corporation to run the Fort Frances Clinic, and to apply to be a Family Health Team, is the mandate of a new board formed here last month.
“In order to move forward with a non-profit, a committee has to be formed,” Coun. Todd Hamilton said this morning. “And this committee is, in essence, a board of directors until the paperwork for incorporation is signed.
“It’s sort of an inaugural committee,” added Coun. Hamilton. “It consists of myself, the mayor [Dan Onichuk], Dr. Bob Algie, John McTaggart, and Wayne Woods from Riverside.
“So those five people are going to do the lion’s share of getting the non-profit organization set up, along with the two lawyers.”
Coun. Hamilton also noted Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig and Fort Frances Clinic administrator Maureen Gartshore are acting in advisory roles, with Group Health Association of Sault Ste. Marie providing overall guidance.
The committee was created after council consulted with the town’s lawyer, who, in turn, informed them the next step in moving forward was to strike a board and pick a name for the future non-profit corporation—in this case, the Fort Frances Community Clinic.
“The biggest part of all this is we want to get into the Family Health Team application process, and I think it closes in the next two to three weeks,” said Coun. Hamilton. “It’s pretty big, and we’d like to get it done.
“I think we’re a very, very attractive candidate to do that kind of thing,” he added. “We qualify nicely and I think it’s going to go forward.
“So the next step is the application, and then the financing agreement with the town, and getting all that paperwork in place,” Coun. Hamilton continued. “We’re probably going to start meeting pretty frequently just to get moving forward.”
Coun. Hamilton noted Kenora is doing the same thing there.
Just last week, a non-profit organization was formed to purchase and transform the Kenora Medical Clinic into a modern facility to lease to new doctors it hopes to attract to the city.
“People see the value in retaining the physicians they have—and recruiting new ones. That’s the whole point,” Coun. Hamilton said of the news from Kenora.
“And the Family Health Team —they’ve agreed that’s the way to go and obviously they’re following the province’s direction on this.
“Unfortunately, if we had been on top of this back in March [2005]—it’s been nearly a year now we’ve been talking about this—we would be well ahead of Kenora and have this thing in place,” Coun. Hamilton noted.
“But that’s the public process and that’s the way it goes.”
Fort Frances Times
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