An ophthalmology clinic at Decarie Square wants to expand into the empty space formerly occupied by Tiny Tots, with plans to bring more specialists and family doctors together under the public health-care system. The last year has been a busy one for Decarie Ophthalmo co-owner Oren Weizman and his wife, who have added several specialists to their ophthalmology clinic, including pediatric ophthalmology. “The need is so extreme that we have families from Trois-Rivières, from Sherbrooke that come here because there is none of that specialized care available over there,” Weizman said. With wait lists for many specialties in Quebec running long, Weizman put out a call on Reddit for additional specialists and family doctors to join the clinic. Just down the hall, the former Tiny Tots pediatric clinic sits empty. It closed at the end of last year, in part because of financial problems and the controversial law on doctors’ salaries. Weizman hopes to turn the space into an all-encompassing clinic serving families. “You come into these environments, it’s either one specialty or another --No. We want to make it the food court of family care and that’s the big idea here,” he said. The clinic would operate entirely within the public system, which Weizman believes could succeed where others have failed. “What we’ll be able to do is give them a suite of answers within, again, the public scope of a RAMQ affiliated clinic. Same appointment, many answers. And that’s where the efficiency is,” he said. Weizman says the mall owners are supportive of the idea and that he has already heard from many specialists. He is now hoping more family doctors will want to join. “We deal with a lot of refugees and asylum seekers as well. To have to pay an immense amount of money is simply, for me, the rupture of our social contract here in Quebec,” Weizman said. He says he wants to help keep health care in Quebec both public and accessible.
