Northern Health buys FSJ medical clinic

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Northern Health’s Chief Operating Officer for the northeast region, Angela de Smit, has confirmed that the health authority bought the Fort St. John Medical Clinic’s building.

About eight or nine months ago, de Smit recalled, the Potters Holding Group, who owned the building, was looking to sell it. Discussions took place, and the decision to purchase it was made to address the issue of space in the community.

Two years ago, Northern Health was working with the division of family practice to ensure there was space available so that — once physicians could be recruited.

“Northern Health Authority had leased part of the Fort St. John medical clinic at that time, and worked in it, established the Northern Health unattached patient clinic,” said Angela de Smit.

“We know that the previous owners had been working with the tenants, that they’d been putting the building for sale and they had no assurance in terms of what the new owners would be using the building for,” she told Energeticcity.ca.

De Smit said they have been meeting with three months with the North Peace Division of Family Practice and Northern Health about what the best use of the space is, and she said it has become apparent the space needs to be utilized in a different way.

The two primary care clinics on the main floor will continue, but as she revealed, they will need additional space to recruit physicians to. Additionally, they would like to accommodate more Northern Health staff to work in the building and support physicians and patients.

The news that the building now belonged to Northern Health came as fairly sudden surprise to one of the businesses inside.

Kim Buchan is the former owner of Fort St. Joe’s, which just closed shop.

“Northern Health told me they were not in the way of retail, and that my space was prime location,” she said. “They gave me notice on March 4, and I had to be out on the 31st.”

Having owned it for almost 10 years, while it was still Esquires, Buchan said the lease got switched over to month-to-month — and it was something she never had worried about before.

“We were trying to get a lease from them, and that’s how it came about for us to find out what they’re doing and what’s going on.”

She said the entire business — worth $230,000 put into it — has been put into a trailer, and is sitting in storage waiting for the next step.

“I had to lay off five employees, and I never in a million years thought I would have to do that,” she said. “It was very disheartening for me.”

The last day Fort St. Joe’s was open was March 24.