Cobequid Community Health Centre, located in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, is part of Capital Health, the health authority for Halifax and the surrounding area. It is often referred to as “the hospital without beds” because it has no in-hospital beds. Instead, it offers a free-standing emergency department and a host of diagnostic services and ambulatory clinics, for a wide variety of disciplines, including cardiology, diabetes, respirology, urology, and mental health. This community facility provides care for both pediatric and adult patients between 0700 and 2200 every day of the year. Patients needing further treatment (i.e., not well enough to go home directly from Cobequid or perhaps needing a specialty consult) are transferred to the Halifax Infirmary, the IWK Health Centre, or one of the other hospitals in Capital Health.
Like most community health centres, Cobequid does not have on-site pharmacy staff. However, staff in the Capital Health Department of Pharmacy, located at the tertiary care hospital (the Halifax Infirmary), use a medication and supply management system to provide needed medications to patients at the community health centre. The Cobequid Community Health Centre is connected to other Capital Health facilities through a computer system that provides access to medical records, electrocardiograms, radiographs, discharge summaries, laboratory results, and other patient information, all of which is helpful in providing the best care possible.
Footnotes
CJHP would be pleased to consider photographs featuring rural hospitals and their pharmacy departments or residential care facilities taken by CSHP members for use on the front cover of the journal. If you would like to submit a photograph, please send an electronic copy (minimum resolution 300 dpi) to Sonya Heggart at sheggart@cshp.ca.