After abruptly closing its Waterboro Walk-in Clinic in mid-June, officials at Southern Maine Health Care announced recently that they plan to reopen the center by the end of January, and possibly even sooner.
This is welcome news for the area, and the region beyond, because the more rural an area of Maine is, typically the more difficult it becomes to access medical care.
The closure was necessary, officials said at the time, due to a shortage of providers. In particular, two of the Waterboro staff resigned. The clinics, which are typically staffed by nurse practitioners or physician assistants, were having difficulty getting those staff members to work at the clinic, because they are not comfortable in that type of fast-paced setting, said SMHC President Ed McGeachey in June. At the time, he said that the goal was to re-open by the end of the summer.
The walk-in clinic serves an important role in the area as well, by keeping those who have non-emergency medical issues from using the more expensive emergency room when they don’t need to. A lot of people don’t have a regular doctor ”“ or primary care physician in today’s medical jargon ”“ so when something goes wrong, they may seek treatment at the emergency room, even if it’s not an emergency. Seeking care at a walk-in clinic typically allows the person to be treated more quickly, while at a lower cost to them and the clinic.
Although SMHC announced they were opening another walk-in clinic in Kennebunk to better serve the area, the Waterboro clinic is in an area where residents and health centers are more sparsely populated. SMHC already operates a walk-in clinic in Saco, where it has been directing patients in the absence of the Waterboro site, which geographically is much closer to Kennebunk. Kennebunk also has several doctor’s offices ”“ private ones as well as a group under the auspices of SMHC.
A person who lives in Cornish, for instance, already has a 30-minute drive ahead of them to get to Waterboro. If that same person had to travel to Saco or Kennebunk, they would be looking at an hour-long car ride. While there are certainly doctors in western York County, not everyone can afford to go to a doctor’s office, nor can they wait the lengthy time period with which new patients are often presented.
While it’s heartening that SMHC plans to reopen the Waterboro Walk-in Clinic, it’s important that the hospital keep its staffing levels sufficient. In the event of another staffing shortage, the hospital should have a plan to rotate its employees to keep all its existing and future sites open and fully operated.
— Robyn Burnham Rousseau is the city editor in the Journal Tribune newsroom.
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