Local walk-in clinic closes

A local medical facility closed its doors effective Thursday.

SaultCare Walk-in Clinic, located within Cambrian Mall on Great Northern Road, served as a much-needed part of the Sault Ste. Marie medical scene for four years.

Dr. Alan McLean of SaultCare told SooToday.com Thursday “we closed for a number of reasons.”

“We had been having trouble staffing the clinic due to the lack of physicians overall in town, and a number of physicians working there have opened primary care practices of their own, and are now busy taking care of the patients they’ve taken on.”

Dr. McLean said that led to fewer orphaned patients, with the number of visits to the walk-in clinic going down.

Dr. McLean said over the past three months SaultCare Walk-In Clinic hours had been changed to 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday for convenience for patients, with doctors seeing an average of about 30 patients per evening.

Dr. McLean, along with Dr. Cameron Lane and Dr. Mark Edwards, will maintain their family medicine practices within Cambrian Mall.

Anyone still looking for a family doctor should contact Health Care Connect.

An official media release from SaultCare Medical Clinic follows:

After four years of serving the community, SaultCare Walk-in clinic is closing as of today. 

Lack of physician availability is the main reason but dwindling numbers, primarily due to increased family practices, is also a factor. 

We are proud to have played a part not only in providing health care services but also in helping to identify the community's needs and helping to establish new organizations and medical practices. 

The physicians and staff of SaultCare would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support these past years.