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Northeast NEWS
April 26, 2012
Chane Neveling works the front counter of her father’s family practice and walk-in clinic. The clinic’s Qless system allows people to hold their spot in line through text message. Patients can text to 778-383-3387, and indicate whether they would like to join the walk-in line or the afterhours line. The patient will then receive message updates of their estimated waiting times and their position in line.
D.C.’s first walk-in clinic now open By Jill Earl
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gency one or two nights a week plus one or two day shifts which are 12 to 14 hour shifts and I’ve already been working apart from when I leave my family practice. I’ve probably been working another 36 hours behind the scenes that you don’t see, so that’s kind of on the back burner...At least I’m going to sleep every night for the next couple of months, which I never used to,” Neveling said. Once the clinic is established, Neveling plans on hiring more doctors, and picking his work at the hospital back up. Neveling doesn’t think that his clinic will make the hospital less busy, but he feels the walk-in will provide another opportunity for care. “The hospital didn’t get less busy, the walk-in clinic just became busy, it’s a different spectrum of patients that come here people that have been un-serviced before now has an option or an alternative...I think it’s just more accessibility to health care for people,” Neveling said. The clinic has enlisted new technologies to help customer service with a program called Qless. Qless allows patients to text in the clinic to hold their spot in line. The program will send the patient updates through text messages to give them an estimated time of when they will be seen, and another message when they have reached the front of the line. This will significantly reduce waiting times at the clinic. “So this just kind of helps customers in the system, they don’t have to sit for five hours and wait and also your seen by the doctor straight away because it’s not very likely that any doctor in this town can take people in the day that they’re actually sick. They don’t have long term things that they have to book for… also a lot of guys working in town, they work 12 hours a day, so we’re open until 8 p.m. and we’re open on weekends so if they want to see a doctor, Qless caters to them as well,” said Chane Neveling, receptionist at the clinic. Chane says the other clinic was usually fully booked and - BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS she had to turn many patients away if they wanted same day appointments. Chane says she had to often direct patients to the emergency room, where the sickest person gets helped 9830 - 110 Avenue, Fort St. John, BC V1J 2T1 first and waiting times are unFax: (250) 785-4346 predictable. Pharmasave made the announcement with Neveling that they were opening as well, neighboring the clinic, however the official opening for them isn’t until Apr. 30. “We can absorb that pool of patients that don’t have a Open 7 days a week family physician…It will all Monday - Wednesday 10:00am-7:00pm work out nicely as I predicted, Now Open til 9pm Thursday - Saturday, I think it’s a good service and Thursday - Saturday 10:00am-9:00pm, Sunday 12:00-5:00pm I can see how my modern systems payoff,” said Neveling.
DAWSON CREEK - After approximately six months from the initial announcement, Dr. Harry Neveling, has finally opened the Mile Zero Family Practice and Walk-in Clinic located at the Co-Op Mall, serving his first patient on Monday, Apr. 16. Neveling has been practicing medicine since 1983, and decided he would combine his family practice with a walk-in clinic because he saw a need in the community. “I heard that there’s about 20 per cent in town that are estimated about 1,500 or 2,000 without a doctor...there’s probably about 2,000 workers that come and go and I’m seeing those people too, some might need a prescription, they might be off work for a day but not sick enough to go to the hospital. I haven’t seen any tourists because it’s not summer yet, but we have about 125,000 people going that a way and 125,000 coming this way back from the Alaska Highway which will stop here as well, and so it’s quite busy,” Neveling said. Neveling will still see his approximately 4,000 patients, but since opening has seen about 20-30 walk-ins a day. In order to open the clinic, Neveling has had to put his regular shifts at the hospital on the back burner until the clinic is established. Although it seems like he has taken on more work and responsibility by being the only current doctor on his staff caring for his regular patients and new ones, he says that he is actually doing less work. “I’m working a little bit less, because behind the scenes I delivered one to two babies a week, that’s two nights that I don’t sleep, I work in emer-
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