River City Medical Clinic
(250) 287-2111
we are NOT a walk-in clinicplease call ahead to plan your visitClinic hours:
Monday: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Tuesday: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Wednesday: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Thursday: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Friday: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Saturday: 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Sunday: Closed on Sundays
Public Holidays: 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
1424-B Island Highway, PO Box 369, Stn A, Campbell River, BC, V9W 5B6
The clinic is located inside the Real Canadian Superstore
River City Medical Clinic Doctors:
ATTENDING PHYSICIANS:
Dr Aaron Johnson, PhD MD CCFP
Dr Gunther Klein, MBChB CCFP
Dr Chidi Okereke, MBBS CCFP
Dr Kate Sutherland, MBChB
Dr Shiu Bong Wong, MBBS CCFP
LOCUM PHYSICIANS:
Dr Roger Seldon, MBChB CCFP
Dr Leah Trippell MD CCFP(EM)
FAMILY PRACTICE RESIDENT PHYSICIANS (2023/24):
Dr Julia Robson, BSc MD
Dr Sarah Wong, BSc MD
PLEASE NOTE:
Dr James Grace has retired at the end of 2023
Dr Grace's regular / attached patients are encouraged to contact the clinic for further information
Please inquire at our front desk if any our family physicians are accepting new patients at a given time
Booking Procedures:
we are NOT a walk-in clinic
Given the extreme family physician shortage in our area and more widely in the Province, we have not been able to offer walk-in medical services to the general public for the last few years now, as previous open-access walk-in services were overwhelmed. Since 2020 we have transitioned to operating as a longitudinal family physician office providing service to our registered patient panels by appointment only.
Our appointment line is (250) 287-2111, answered during clinic opening hours
If you are a REGISTERED PATIENT attached to one of our CLINIC family physicians:
Please identify yourself immediately when you call in, and state the identity of your usual family physician. Once our MOAs have verified your panel registration/attachment on our systems they may pre-book either an in-person or a telehealth appointment with your usual family physician at our clinic. In order to avoid lengthy wait times for appointments with our doctors we are limiting our pre-bookings for our attached panel patients to one week in the future (physician discretion may apply).
If you are an UNATTACHED PATIENT with no regular family physician:
As a service to our community we still provide a very LIMITED number of same-day urgent access in-person or telehealth appointments to unattached patients, who do not have a regular family physician. These appointments are assigned on a first-come-first-serve basis when we open our clinic doors at 9 am in the morning. Please note that our availability of these same-day appointments is LIMITED and variable from day to day, depending on available physician resources. We are typically booked full for the day within 30 to 60 minutes of clinic opening. We prioritize patients who arrive in person at the clinic to patients calling in on the phone lines. We do not pre-book unattached patients for future days, this is a same-day service only.
If you have ANOTHER FAMILY DOCTOR working at a different clinic:
Our same-day urgent access appointment service is meant for our own regular patients and, where we can, as resources permit, we try to help unattached patients with no doctor, who really have no other options. Our service is not intended for use by patients who already have family physician services established elsewhere. If you have a regular doctor and require medical care, please contact your usual family doctors office. If there is no convenient appointment available, and the matter is urgent, please leave a message for your usual family doctor. If you have difficulty accessing care with your usual family doctor, please let their office know, and inquire about their on-call arrangements.
Service to our local GEOGRAPHICAL AREA:
In order conserve our resources and be able to serve our local community we have had to restrict our services to patients located in Campbell River and surrounding area. We do not have the resources to provide telehealth to patients located remotely. Furthermore the medical authorities require us to be able to conduct in-person visits, not just telehealth visits, when a direct examination becomes medically necessary. For this reason we cannot provide telehealth to patients located outside our local service area (individual physicians might still provide telehealth follow-up services to their own panel patients who are temporarily away).
Our ONLINE BOOKING system:
As of October 2023 we have introduced an online appointment booking system for our regular attached panel patients (not for unattached patients). To access online booking, please click the blue button at the top of this page, or go to https://rivercity.cortico.ca/book/. If there is any confusion about the online booking system, please call our clinic number (250) 287-2111 to clarify. Of course our patients are always welcome to continue to call the clinic to book appointments the conventional way, however please keep in mind that our phone lines can be very busy in the mornings.
If you have a MEDICAL EMERGENCY:
True medical emergencies are most appropriately dealt with at your nearest EMERGENCY ROOM, or please call 911.
New Patients:
If you are looking for a regular family physician
please visit the official BC Health Connect Registry
All of our physicians have very full/ busy patient panels, and generally do not have room to attach new patients into their panels.
Some of our physicians may occasionally, and for brief periods of time, choose augment their panels with a few new patient attachments at their discretion, if some of their existing patients have moved on. Please inquire at the front desk to find out what the current status might be.
Our doctors will generally not consider requests from patients who are already attached to a different family physician at this or at other clinics, and just want to switch doctors.
We do NOT keep a clinic based wait list for patients looking for a regular family doctor. If you want to register on a wait list for a family doctor, we recommend you visit the official BC Health Connect Registry.
Virtual Care:
We offer Virtual Care visits at River City Medical Clinic!
virtual care visits can occur either by telephone or by video-chat
To schedule a Virtual Care visit:
Please simply call (250) 287-2111 and our friendly Medical Office Assistants will be happy to schedule a virtual care appointment with your usual family physician at the clinic, or if your problem is urgent, please ask for a same-day virtual care visit with one of the doctors on duty at the clinic today.
In most cases we can adequately conduct your virtual care visit with a simple phone call. If you are interested in a video meeting with your doctor, please make sure our MOAs register your email address correctly, so we can send you a video meeting invitation.
Our phone lines are open from 9 am to 7 pm on weekdays and from 9 am to 3 pm on weekends and holidays (same as clinic hours).
To prepare for your video chat visit:
We have a dedicated and privacy secured videoconferencing platform installed at River City Medical Clinic. This runs in a browser platform, so there is no need to install special software or apps on your device. You will however need a recent, updated version of any of the popular internet browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Edge or Safari) to be able to access the video call.
To initiate a video chat visit:
Your doctor will send you a meeting invitation via email, with a link to connect to a video call, via the Cortico Health platform. If you have technical difficulty please call the clinic front desk at (250) 287-2111.
Virtual Care versus Actual Care:
We recognize that while many things can be easily done with a phone-call or by video chat, not all medical problems can be adequately addressed by virtual care. Many medical problems require an actual in-person visit with your doctor, for a physical examination or hands-on care. When your doctor talks to you, they might ask you to come to the clinic for an in-person medical visit, if it is deemed essential.
---