The Penticton Urgent and Primary Care Centre (UPCC) is celebrating one year of expanded access to services and team-based health care in the community.
“The urgent and primary care centre has proven to be a valuable community resource in Penticton,” said Interior Health president and CEO, Susan Brown. “Whether it’s being used to treat someone’s urgent care needs to prevent an unnecessary emergency department visit, or connecting people to mental health and substance use supports, it has seen more than 17,000 visits since opening last year.”
Located at 101 – 437 Martin Street, the Penticton UPCC provides longitudinal primary care services for people with mental health and substance use needs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, and then provides urgent primary care services from 5 to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday and 12 to 6 p.m. on weekends and holidays.
During the day, services include mental health and substance-use health care, opioid agonist treatment, access to specialized mental health and substance use services like case management, women’s health support and counselling referrals.
During the evenings and weekends, the Penticton UPCC provides team-based care for non-emergency health concerns to individuals in Penticton who require same day attention. Care is available for concerns such as minor injuries, sprains and strains, infections, less serious child illness and injury, high fever, and cuts, wounds or skin conditions. Patients can call 250-770-3696 during daytime hours to book an urgent care appointment for evenings and weekends.
“After injuring my knee during spring break, I called the Penticton urgent and primary care centre to have it checked out. The staff were great and I was able to see a physiotherapist and have it looked at right away,” said Peter Verge, a Penticton community member. “If it wasn’t for this place, I would have ended up in the emergency department.”
During a visit, someone may be seen by a physician, a nurse practitioner, a registered nurse, or another health professional such as a social worker, mental health worker, or a physiotherapist, depending on their needs.
“It’s great working in a multi-disciplinary team as this makes caring for a patient very easy,” said Dr. Wessel Joubert, physician lead for urgent care at the Penticton UPCC. “It helps divide the workload, everyone practices to their full scope, and the patients get a holistic wrap-around service.”
In collaboration with the South Okanagan Similkameen Division of Family Practice, the UPCC also assists in connecting patients without a primary care provider to a family doctor or nurse practitioner either at the centre or in the community.
The Penticton UPCC is part of the South Okanagan Similkameen Primary Care Network. It is a collaboration between Interior Health, the Ministry of Health, the South Okanagan Similkameen Division of Family Practice, the Okanagan-Similkameen Regional Hospital District, the Martin Street Outreach Centre Association, OneSky Community Resources and local Indigenous partners, including the Penticton Indian Band and Ooknakane Friendship Centre.
Interior Health has seven Urgent and Primary Care Centres located in Castlegar, Cranbrook, Kamloops, Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon and West Kelowna.
