Hospital opening 'new modern space' for ambulatory care clinic

Four years ago, John T. Clark headed to Saint John Regional Hospital to have doctors look at a bump on his leg and brought up a persistent cold sore on his lip.

The bump was fine, Clark said, but doctors told the long time philanthropist and auto dealer that the sore was a "rare, malignant and aggressive" carcinoma that needed to be dealt with immediately.

Within a month, Clark was in a chair getting MOHS surgery, a treatment for skin cancer. On Thursday, he was back in a chair at the MOHS room in the ambulatory care clinic, which now bears his family's name thanks to a $1 million donation as part of a four-year, $12 million fundraising campaign to renovate the facility.

"I was curious to see where the MOHS procedure ... takes place," Clark told the crowd. "I concluded that since I've had five MOHS procedures over recent years, that each one of those procedures is worth $200,000."

Horizon Health Network hosted a ribbon cutting at the hospital's J.T. Clark Family Foundation Ambulatory Clinic Thursday, set to open on June 24. The clinic, which provides ambulatory care services such as dermatology, urology, orthopedics and plastic surgery, has doubled in size thanks to the hospital foundation's Give Clinic 1 Expansion Campaign, which ran from 2017 to 2021 and included 2,700 individual donors.

"Having a new modern space means so much for our clinicians and patients," Horizon CEO Margaret Melanson told the crowd. "To know that donations made this possible reminds our staff that there is a community of support behind us that care for our patients every day with us."

Melanson said that the unit serves medical and surgical appointments and allows patients to get work done that may have required a short in-patient stay in other times. She said it's "such an evolution in our forward-thinking approach and absolutely improved access."

Shannon Hunter, president and CEO of the SJRH Foundation, called the expansion "much-needed renovations to the hospital's busiest clinic" and told the crowd it was a long road to be able to celebrate the opening following the funding campaign.

"It was a significant amount of work ... but everybody came together, because it was such a critical need for the hospital," Hunter told reporters. "I would not be able to say the sheer number of meetings, events and interactions that would have been required."

Cathy Wall, nurse manager for the clinic, said the facility has been in temporary digs since before work began in March of last year, and she was "shocked" to see the new space once it was all finished. The floor space has increased from 7,000 square feet to 14,700, according to a release.

"We have the ability now not to be tripping in the corridors, we had very small corridors with a lot of workstations, computers, supplies," said Wall, who led dignitaries on a tour of the new space. "The flow and comfort for the patients is foremost, and this space allows patients to feel more comfortable, helps decrease their anxiety."

Large windows offer more natural light in the corridors and some rooms, where before, "we never knew if it was snowing, if it was sunny," Wall said. She said there is also now better privacy and confidentiality now that there is more space to operate.

"I am so proud of all the work that everybody has put into this project," Wall said. "I just know that the patients and the staff are going to feel the love and support from the foundation."

The unit contains 13 smaller clinics, and sees operations such as plastic surgery, including hand trauma, pin insertion and tendon repair, vasectomies and also lesion removal. All the procedures are below the level required to have sedations, and keeps people who need same-day procedures from needing to be placed in a hospital bed.

"As we all know, we're stretched a bit in these areas. The ambulatory clinic allows people to have care and not have to stay overnight," Wall said, saying it serves Saint John as well as the larger area.

Health Minister Bruce Fitch called it a "key development here for accessibility for patients" as well as a potential to attract staff due to making the unit a better place to work.

"We did a tour, it's going to be bright, the patient flow would be good," Fitch said. "I'm just so impressed with the effort of the foundation and the work that's been here."

Clark, whose family owned automobile businesses for more than 100 years in Fredericton, said raising money for the community is something his family "grew up with," leading to the formation of the family foundation in 1999, which has had contributions from Clark, his late wife Wilma, their family and companies.

"Here's what can happen when people get involved, want to make things better for somebody else, and they will hopefully contribute to the ongoing success of the clinic," Clark said.

Melanson told the crowd the project was "couldn't have been possible" without the support from Clark. Hunter and Wall thanked all the donors for their support.

"Without the donors and the community and the foundation, none of this would have happened," Wall said.

Andrew Bates, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Telegraph-Journal