Virtual walk-in clinic opens in Rutland

A Rutland pharmacy is offering virtual doctor’s visits in the hopes of alleviating the community’s doctor shortage.

Revolution Pharmacy recently opened a virtual walk-in clinic that allows patients to talk to a doctor, securely, through an online video conference.

Curtis Fieseler, the pharmacist who runs the Revolution, says he set up the service to help alleviate pressure on the area’s “overwhelmed” clinics and hospitals.

He guessed that as many as 50 per cent of his patients don’t have family doctors. Because of that, they dread heading to walk-in clinics where wait times are long and the doctors often appear overworked.

“I’ve heard complaints of long wait times and that it’s hard to see physicians,” Fieseler said.

That problem is about to get even worse, when in late August the Rutland Walk-in Clinic shuts its doors for good.

The Rutland Clinic is a major one in the area, and Fieseler said its closure will mean a lot more pressure on other clinics and hospitals in Kelowna.

With Kelowna’s population expanding, the predicted the problem will only get worse as time goes on. He hopes the new virtual clinic will help by making more doctors available, and making it fast and easy to talk to them.

He explained how pharmacy staff help customers set up an account, and can have patients talking to a registered doctor in just a few minutes.

Fieseler, who needed a doctor when he set up the clinic and was its first patient, said the visits are a “little weird” at first, but quickly become almost like a traditional doctor’s appointment.

“Once the visit starts you feel like the doctor is in the room with you,” he said.

He said the visits obviously can’t replace a traditional visit for every kind of ailment, but that a virtual clinic is great for prescription refills, non-emergency doctor visits, referrals and bloodwork.

The virtual clinic has some basic diagnostic equipment on-site to help with diagnosis, and doctors can do a lot over the internet.

“From what I’ve seen it’s very effective,” he said.

Another added bonus is the service’s capacity, which Fieseler said might be nearly limitless.

Ingrid MacKellar is a Rutland resident who used the virtual clinic July 25.

MacKellar was suffering from an allergic reaction, and said she was “at her wits end” before she tried the service.

After receiving several prescriptions from her virtual visit, she said she is “very, very impressed.”

She said she was talking to a doctor “within minutes” of getting set up, and that her appointment was “just like FaceTime.”

MacKellar balked at the idea that a virtual appointment might lack some of the benefits of a face-to-face visit, and said hers was in many ways better.

“She said her doctor listened to her, and took her time when deciding the best course of action.

MacKellar said she felt like she had lots of time to explain her concerns, and came out feeling better than her last few clinic visits, where she had to wait for a long time, and didn’t feel she had her doctor’s full attention.

“Holy cow. We need like 20 of these in Kelowna. I think this has to be spread,” she said. “This is the future.”