THUNDER BAY — Another city clinic is offering its services to individuals impacted by the unexpected closure of the Umbrella Medical Clinic.
Umbrella, which is dedicated to providing sexual health and gender-affirming care to people of all genders and orientations, announced late last month that it was closing until further notice.
Clients were told "At this time, we are uncertain if UMC will be re-opening, however we will provide an update on February 16, 2024."
Management at Umbrella has declined media requests for more details, but Rainbow Collective president Jason Veltri expressed alarm over the situation Tuesday, saying some people are going to struggle to find access to another clinic.
A spokesperson for Oak Medical Arts issued a statement Wednesday saying there are other options for treatment in the city.
"We are saddened to hear about the closure of the Umbrella Clinic, as they have been an integral part of sexual health in our community," said Maggie Kuzmich, a clinic manager at Oak.
"It is heartbreaking to think there are friends, family and neighbours in our community that would benefit from this care but are simply unaware there are local options for them."
Kuzmich said Oak Medical Arts has been providing many of the same services for the past two years at its Academy Clinic location on Beverly Street, where a nurse practitioner specializes in sexual health, contraception, gender affirmation and other areas.
"She's able to offer a lot of the services that, unfortunately, the Umbrella Clinic has left a hole in our community. She can do the hormone therapy, she can give referrals to surgeries. Unfortunately, we don't offer any of the surgeries in town, but we're able to send those off to Southern Ontario."
Kuzmich noted that because it's a nurse practitioner-run clinic and is not overseen by a physician, it's not allowed to bill OHIP and must charge fees.
"There are fees associated with our clinic, and we're very upfront with our fee, and talk about it prior to the appointment."
She said there's capacity to accept new patients immediately, and that appointments can be arranged within as soon as a week.
"We definitely get a lot of clients who express gratitude that there is the option with Oak. And a lot of our clients give us the impression that there isn't a lot of options in town, or not a lot of follow-up, or nobody that specializes in the area. There's a lot of people who are willing to dabble, but there's not a lot of practitioners that focus the practice there."
