Medical Centre doing phone survey
In September, the Board of the Creemore Medical Centre was notified that their submission to the Federal Government for financial assistance in the expansion of the Medical Centre was incomplete and could not be considered at this time. The Board said they do not agree but acknowledged that the Government establishes the rules. This means that the attractiveness of the expansion proposal remains unevaluated by the Federal Government.
Both the Township and the Board made it clear that they still feel that the proposal is an excellent one. They have heard that the federal department involved will establish a fund next year for which the proposal would be eligible and they are preparing themselves to make a new submission. Dr. Kellie Leitch, the local MP is supporting the application.
Bill Mann, the chair of the Medical Centre Board, explained that the Board’s prime responsibility in the past has been to act as landlord for the Medical Centre building. However, after discussions with several health service providers in the greater Clearview area, the Board has decided to expand its role to include the assessment of the “wellness” of Creemore and its surrounding area. In particular, they are interested in learning about Creemore residents’ feelings about the adequacy of the town’s health services in covering their health needs. One key question, said Mann, was: “What’s missing for local residents in the way of health services they need?”
Since there is currently no data available to answer this question, the Medical Centre Board has commissioned, with the support of Clearview Township, a market research study to provide the desired data. The study area will include the southern end of Clearview as well as northern Mulmur.
The research will be done by Resource Management Consulting Group of Barrie, who recently successfully completed a somewhat similar study for Collingwood’s General and Marine Hospital. The firm will be doing its research by phone during the first several weeks of November. It hopes to complete 400 questionnaires. The content of individual questionnaires will be completely confidential, with only summary analysis being made available to the Board.
The Board requests that if you get a call from the research firm, they would very much appreciate your being willing to participate in the survey. They anticipate the results of the study will considerably strengthen the quality and credibility of the Centre’s revised expansion proposal to the Federal Government. The survey results will be shared with the community, and as an added bonus, there will be a draw for questionnaire respondents to win a $100 gift certificate good at any Creemore retailer.
