Strengthening community support
Community Health Clinic (CHC) Stouffville expanded to a larger location in April 2025 to help meet the health care needs and growing demands of the community. The new clinic features seven exam rooms (up from four at the previous location) and a consultation office that is better equipped to provide more comprehensive assessments.
“The vision behind CHC when it first opened in Stouffville was to improve access to timely, community-based primary care for individuals and families who were struggling to find accessible health care services,” says Munira Thayani, Patient Care Manager, Community Integration. “The goal was to create an integrated model of care that would address gaps in the health care system while providing co-ordinated, patient-centred care close to home.”
New space, enhanced services
The expansion of the clinic came with some additional services offered.
“New specialized services include wound care, a paediatric clinic, cancer screening initiatives, and an HPV screening clinic,” says Munira. “The addition of these services allowed us to provide more comprehensive and preventative care closer to home, while also supporting earlier intervention and improved patient outcomes.”
Joanne Rehel, unit secretary of CHC Stouffville and Stouffville resident of 23 years, has seen how the health care landscape of the community has changed over the years.
“When we first moved to Stouffville with two young children, there were no walk-in clinics as far as we knew of,” says Joanne. “We had to go to clinics in Markham or the Emergency Department if we could not get in to see our family doctor.”
Care close to home
CHC Stouffville patients John and Anita moved to Stouffville from Toronto in 2022, but knowing how difficult it is to find a family doctor, they decided to stay with their physician despite it being 45 minutes away.
“Several months ago, Joanne mentioned that we could transfer to have our primary care at the clinic,” says John. “We love how close the clinic is to our house and how kind and caring all of the staff have been to us.”
Easy online booking, especially for same-day access were huge pluses for John and Anita, but the people are what made such a big difference to them.
“From the first day I visited the clinic, all the staff have been kind, caring, and incredibly friendly to Anita and me,” says John. “My wife once had an appointment where I stayed home, and several staff members asked Anita where I was and whether I was okay. The staff are knowledgeable and have provided excellent care for both of us.”
Anita shares that it is incredibly important for more community health clinics to open in a variety of locations.
“In quickly growing towns like Stouffville, the need for high-quality health care is going to grow,” says Anita. “We don’t want to go to walk-in clinics when we need health care, we want somewhere to go where the staff know us and our medical histories.”
The broader impact on the health system
Mandy Lau, Manager of Health Systems and Community Strategy at Oak Valley Health shares accessible health care like CHC Stouffville impacts not just patients, but other parts of the health care system.
“CHC Stouffville consistently offers timely access to care with same- and next-day appointments and supports alleviating some of the system pressure,” says Mandy. “In fact, as identified in the results of our patient experience survey, over 17 per cent of patients said they would have gone to the ED for care had CHC Stouffville not been available.”
What’s next
Looking ahead, the CHC Stouffville team will be partnering with primary care partners, Carefirst Family Health Team, and expanding access to team-based care at CHC Stouffville. This is a step toward establishing CHC Stouffville as a Neighbourhood Health Home while it substantially increases capacity for primary care attachment, making sure that community members who do not have family doctor or nurse practitioner can get one.