At the start of the 2015/2016 school year, the majority of the seven hundred students attending Quest University did not have a family doctor. Many of the students in residence had moved to Squamish from other parts of the province and others simply found it too difficult to travel from the campus to town to get the health care they needed.
Now, as a result of a partnership between the Sea to Sky Division of Family Practice and Quest University, there is an on campus clinic for students.
“When we assessed the needs in our community, we quickly realized that a significant number of the patients looking for a family doctor were students at Quest,” says Dr Larry Klein, Physician Lead in Squamish for the Sea to Sky Division. “The university was very willing to work with us and the clinic is already a great success.”
The Division provides doctors who are at the university two to three times a week. Quest University provides the space for the clinic and some administrative support.
Melanie Koenderman is the Dean of Students at Quest. She says that the clinic is greatly appreciated by the students. “Since the clinic opened in September, the doctors have had nearly 250 appointments with students,” says Koenderman.
“And students have told us that they appreciate being able to see a physician on campus quick and easily.”
The clinic is part of the Sea to Sky Division’s work to ensure that all patients have access to primary care and have the opportunity to develop a long term relationship with their health care provider. For more information, visit the Sea to Sky Division of Family Practice website.