The West Middlesex Health Centre continued to grow this month as on November 1st, they welcomed three new doctors taking on over 3000 patients combined over the coming months. Dr. Aditya Devgan, Dr. Stephen McDonald and Dr. Monica Carter will each be Adjunct Professors in the Department of Family Medicine at Western University. There is still room for at least one more full practice in the future. Coming up today, they will have an official opening introducing all the staff on hand. It will happen at 2pm, and invited guests can start to gather any time after 1pm. There will be speakers and tours as part of the event, and the event itself will be managed for size due to the pandemic.
WMHC first opened to the public on Aug 17, 2020. This was between the first and second wave of the Pandemic. The patients from the practices of Dr. Philip Vandewalle, Dr. John Marcou, Dr. Sara Puente and Dr. Nuala Marshall, originally located at 31 Caradoc St N in Strathroy, started to see the doctors in the new building. They increased the compliment of family medicine residents from 2 at a time to 4 at a time within 1 month of moving to the new building.
In July 2021, they increased the compliment of residents to 8 at a time. The four doctors all were appointment as full time Assistant Professors in Western’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry’s Family Medicine Department. As well as teaching residents, there are medical students at various stages of their training who will also spend time in this clinic. Trainees from the Psychiatry Residency at Western will also be hosted here.
A compliment of Thames Valley Family Health Team (TVFHT) staff moved to the new site as well (Team Administrator, Occupational Therapist, Respiratory Therapist, Nurse Practitioner, Registered Nurse, Registered Dietitian, Social Worker and Pharmacist). Students in these various specialties are also taught here.
A pharmacy, IDA, opened in November 2020. The pharmacist and team are very open to help educate our learners. They of course welcome business from the Centre’s patients and any other patients in the community.
They have two sister sites with one being in Ailsa Craig with two doctors, Dr Norm Furtado and Dr Michael Wagner; and one in Parkhill with one doctor, Dr Craig Olmstead.