This rural P.E.I. community took health care into its own hands. Now
it has a thriving clinic
Thinh Nguyen
| CBC News | Posted: June 8, 2025 9:00 AM | Last Updated: 2
hours ago
‘There were times where I thought "This is never going to
happen,"’ says pharmacist
Image | Lisa Gallant 3
Caption: Lisa Gallant stands in a section of the South Shore
Health and Wellness Centre that is undergoing its third
expansion since the facility opened in January 2018. (Thinh
Nguyen/CBC)
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Back in 2017, when Lisa Gallant saw that thousands of people in
her own community of Crapaud and the surrounding areas suddenly
were without a family doctor, she knew she had to take action.
That year, longtime family doctor Dr. Hendrik Visser retired
after 32 years of practice in Crapaud. A new physician took
over, but the practice proved untenable for one person, and he
left the same year.
"We had no primary health care, and we knew that something had
to be done," Gallant told Island Morning host Mitch Cormier
during the CBC radio show's remote broadcast from her community
Thursday.
Gallant, who is a pharmacist and owner of South Shore Pharmacy,
joined forces with other local leaders to form the non-profit
South Shore Health and Wellness Inc. They raised about $10,000
to establish a walk-in clinic, at the time located in what had
been the pharmacy's kitchen, in January 2018.
Media Audio | Island Morning : The evolution of the South Shore
Health and Wellness Clinic
Caption: After losing its primary health care, the community of
Crapaud organized itself to advocate for access. The South
Shore Health and Wellness Clinic was created as a result. Lisa
Gallant, a pharmacist and owner of the South Shore Pharmacy in
Crapaud, was a founding member of the community clinic. She
joins us to tell us more about its evolution.
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Today, that small walk-in has grown into the South Shore Health
and Wellness Centre, which has undergone two expansions and is
now in the middle of a third. Once the work is complete, the
centre will span more than 5,000 sqare feet.
"There were times where I thought 'This is never going to
happen,'" she said.
The centre now has a comprehensive care team, including a
full-time physician, two full-time nurse practitioners, three
licensed practical nurses, two part-time nurses specializing in
chronic disease management, and a part-time physiotherapist.
The latest expansion will allow for even more staff in the
future.
Image | Lisa Gallant 1
Caption: As a pharmacist and the owner of South Shore Pharmacy,
Lisa Gallant knew she had to do something in 2017, when she saw
thousands of people in her own community of Crapaud and the
surrounding areas suddenly without a family doctor. (Thinh
Nguyen/CBC)
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This is exactly the kind of collaborative, multidisciplinary
primary-care model that Gallant and her group envisioned from
the start, one that could meet the health-care needs of a
growing rural population.
But Gallant said the journey hasn't been easy; it took years of
persistent advocacy with the provincial government. Now, they
hope the success in Crapaud can be replicated in other rural
communities across Prince Edward Island.
Collaborative care 'the way forward'
The concept of collaborative, team-based health care is now
being embraced across P.E.I.
There are currently 17 of what the government calls medical
homes in the province. These clinics offer a wide range of
services, with doctors collaborating with other health-care
workers. They have been touted by the province as a way to
alleviate pressure on the health-care system.
But it's not a new idea.
Image | Dr Visser
Caption: Dr. Hendrik Visser, a retired family doctor who served
the Crapaud area for more than 30 years, speaks with Island
Morning host Mitch Cormier at the CBC radio show's remote
broadcast on Thursday. (Thinh Nguyen/CBC)
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Visser, the retired doctor who has since returned to Crapaud,
said he pitched the concept to the province years ago, inspired
by his early career in Africa.
"That is the way forward. We saw that effectively implemented
in resource-poor countries in Africa, where six of us as
physicians were able to manage a hospital the size of the Queen
Elizabeth Hospital, all with allied health professionals,
midwives, primary health-care workers and nurses and lab and
rehabilitation services — all under one roof, all
interdisciplinary," Visser said.
"We were able to serve a population of about two million people
with rural health centres that we equipped to be in the
communities, and we would then be the referral centre from
those small clinics out in the community."
Even in his own practice in Crapaud, Visser collaborated with a
nurse for years. Together, they managed care for more than
2,000 patients.
A vision finally realized
Before retiring, Visser said he proposed a collaborative model
for rural health care to the provincial government, but he said
there wasn't much reception around the idea at the time.
In the years after Visser's retirement, Gallant and her group
continued pushing the idea, bringing proposals and
presentations to meetings with Health P.E.I. and government
officials.
"We just heard 'no' so many times," she said. "We just felt
that if we kept being consistent and never gave up, we would
eventually reach our goals."
* Rural P.E.I. community gets a doctor again after 5-year
lobbying effort
* Crapaud could be 'perfect model' of rural health care on
P.E.I., says minister
In 2020, they met with then-premier Dennis King.
"We came in armed with all of our documents and our proposals
and all of our facts, ready to do battle," she said. "The
premier looked at us and said, 'Yes, I agree with you. You
should have a doctor. You should have primary health care in
Crapaud.'"
King later visited the clinic and committed to making it a
collaborative practice with a physician involved.
In July 2023, Dr. Meghan Cameron joined the clinic — the
community's first family doctor in five years. In total,
Gallant's group has invested more than $30,000 in clinic
improvements and equipment over the years.
'They want to be here'
Gallant said the community has gone from desperately needing
practitioners to receiving inquiries from physicians and nurse
practitioners interested in working at the Crapaud clinic.
She credits not only the facility but also the team atmosphere.
"Health-care professionals talk to each other, and the team
here is so great. They're so collaborative and wonderful,
dedicated professionals, and there's a really good morale at
the clinic," Gallant said. "Other health-care practitioners
hear that, and they want to be here."
Media Audio | Island Morning : How the South Shore fought
pushback to get access to health care
Caption: The South Shore Health and Wellness Clinic may be a
success story, but its success came with a hard fight. Ian
Dennison, a patient and co-chair at the clinic, tells us about
some of the pushback the clinic received.
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Her group also works hard to support the team with things like
thank-you cards, baking, and small gifts to express
appreciation, Gallant said.
"Everyone is so thankful to have that care here. So it's
important that the health-care providers feel that," she said.
They also help with recruitment by touring candidates around
the facility and community, as well as presenting baskets
filled with local products.
A model for other communities
What's been built in Crapaud should serve as a model for other
rural areas, Health Minister Mark McLane told CBC News at the
remote broadcast.
"Back to rural health care in the past, we used to have a
single physician in an office," he said. "Now, with the
collaborative-care model, there's more supports around those
physicians and nurse practitioners to provide service, so we're
not as reliant on one position in one area."
McLane said lessons can be learned from the model in Crapaud.
While a nice setup helps to attract physicians, he said
community support for these health providers is also essential,
and Crapaud has both.
Image | Mark McLane
Caption: Health Minister Mark McLane (at right) said what's
been built in Crapaud should serve as a model for other rural
areas of the province. (Thinh Nguyen/CBC)
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When asked whether Health P.E.I. has made hires to staff the
clinic's expansion, McLane did not say yes.
"We keep hiring, and again, we have so many positions within
our system… You know, the provider chooses where they go," the
minister said.
McLane also noted that the federal government's loan
forgiveness program, introduced last year for doctors and
nurses, serves as another tool to attract health-care
professionals to rural and remote areas.
Meanwhile, some communities on P.E.I. are taking similar action
to Crapaud's. A newly opened walk-in clinic in Montague, also
located in a pharmacy, was made possible by a $200,000
fundraising effort from a local volunteer group.
Image | Matt McFarlane
Caption: Green MLA Matt MacFarlane says the government, not
community volunteers, is responsible for providing health care
to Islanders. (Thinh Nguyen/CBC)
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Green MLA Matt MacFarlane, who was part of the Crapaud clinic's
board, said the burden of getting a clinic open shouldn't fall
on communities.
"It's government's job to deliver health care, to provide
health care, and to get the 37,000 Islanders on the wait list
for a doctor off that wait list," he said.
"It shouldn't fall to volunteers who have full-time jobs —
farmers, fishers, whatever — to have to come in on the little
bit of time they have and spend six years advocating for health
care and building a clinic up from scratch and then having the
government just take the key and then say, 'OK, now we have a
clinic.' That's government's job."
'It will be joyous'
Albany resident Darlene Smith, a retired teacher, has been on
the P.E.I. patient registry for six years.
While she has relied on the virtual platform Maple for minor
issues, Smith said she often hesitates to seek in-person care
for fear of burdening the system.
"It's a little stressful because you just don't know what to
do."
Image | Darlene Smith
Caption: Darlene Smith, a retired teacher from Albany, and her
husband have been on the provincial patient registry for six
years. (Thinh Nguyen/CBC)
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But with the expansion, and Gallant saying the clinic is
accepting new patients weekly, Smith hopes she and her husband
will soon get the call.
"It will be joyous," she said. "It's not that we're unwell and
that we need to go see a doctor, but just to have that peace of
mind, to be able to call someone that's going to take care of
you."
Gallant said her group isn't done.
"We're going to keep working at it until there isn't one person
left on the registry for this South Shore area, so whatever
that takes," she said. "With this last addition, I think that
should be able to clean up the registry for this area over
time."
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