Thousands of Peachland, B.C., residents will soon have to travel much farther to see their doctors.
That’s because the community’s only doctor’s office, the Beach Avenue Medical Clinic, is closing Thursday.
Dr. John Brinkerhoff, who owns the clinic and serves as its medical director, is retiring at the end of this month, and none of the four other doctors who worked at the clinic wanted to take ownership of the practice.
“Sad that that there’s not someone continuing in this place,” Brinkerhoff told Global News. “I brought young doctors in hoping that one of them might want to take over the ownership and take the ball and run with it, but I understand why young doctors may not want to do that…to own the clinic is not only medicine, it’s a business right and not everybody is into that.”
Instead, the four doctors decided to move their practices to other neighbouring communities, leaving Peachland without an operating doctor’s office.
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All the clinic’s 8,000 patients will still have a family doctor.
Patients will be able to travel to see their physician at the doctors’ new locations.
There is a sliver of good news for those Peachland residents hoping to see a doctor’s office return to their community, though.
The clinic building will remain set up as a doctor’s office so a new doctor can hopefully be recruited to takeover the space.
“We are recruiting a physician for the clinic, like a turn key operation,” office manager Lisa Guderyan said. “The beds are all made up, our stock is still here, everything is here and we are ready to go for another physician to take over.”
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