Sun Peaks going back to the drawing board as deal with potential clinic operator falls through

“Retaining ownership of that clinic had been a priority so that regardless who was operating it, it would remain a family health practice for years to come,” O’Toole said, noting that while Nowierski’s proposal was the only one received by the deadline, it didn’t meet all of their requirements.

While the municipality was eventually willing to entertain a possible sale of the health clinic following feedback from the community, O’Toole said they weren’t able to get the deal done.

“That aspect of adding the purchase component changed the complexity of the process and the potential agreement dramatically,” O’Toole added.

“A lease-only option is a far different scenario than one where you’re talking about a community-owned asset that has been fundraised locally for 30 years. To turn that over to a private for-profit business is not something you can draw up a contact on a napkin and sign off on.”

In a statement, the Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality said it respects Nowierski’s decision to take a step back. Nowierski had previously resigned from the Sun Peaks Health Centre last summer, and her proposal was the only one received last year.

“We recognize this update may be disappointing and that many residents are feeling the impact of the Health Centre’s continued closure,” the statement said.

The Sun Peaks Health Centre has been closed since Oct. 10, after council ended the lease held by the Supporting Team Excellence with Patients Society (STEPS). The Kamloops-based non-profit had been operating the clinic since 2023, but O’Toole said it was only open three days a week instead of five.

“Residents had started to express concerns about the operational hours of the clinic and it was our understanding that there was a reduction in doctor hours and STEPS didn’t have anyone to fill the void and that meant the clinic was open less,” O’Toole said.

In late October, O’Toole asked Sun Peaks residents to “trust in this process,” following concerns about the lack of medical services in the community. In December, CAO Deanna Campbell then told council that a draft agreement with Nowierski was being worked on.

“We know it may not seem or feel like it, but as one of my staff pointed out, we’re actually moving through a really complex process quicker than what happened in any other situation,” Campbell said at the time.

O’Toole said Sun Peaks council is committed to getting the clinic reopened as soon as possible, but he also admitted there is no timeline when that might happen. While O’Toole also admits this is not where Sun Peaks council had hoped to be, the issue will be discussed at an upcoming council meeting so residents are aware of what’s going on.

“If I knew we were going to be here today, council might have looked at other options and not been so laser-focused on trying to make this one agreement work,” he said. “Early on, we looked at some options but once we moved past our non-negotiable of selling the clinic space, we were fully committed to getting a deal done with Dr. Nowierski.”

“We thought that her side might not see us as being committed if we were looking at Plan B as a backup. Hindsight being 20/20 maybe we should not have done that, but we can’t go back and change anything.”

Moving forward, O’Toole said Sun Peaks council will be exploring all of its options and that whatever option is picked will be “the best one for the community.”

“There are no crazy ideas here,” O’Toole said. “We’re looking at everything. We’re also going to go back and review the work that the working group did and use our experience in the last five months to help inform what we’re going to do going forward.”

“We’re also looking at what kind of role our health association can play in getting this clinic back up and running.”

by Victor Kaisar

Sun Peaks going back to the drawing board as deal with potential clinic operator falls through

Our Community