French Medical Services in Saint John

I know the buzz right now is all about the newly released French Second Language Program, but since I'm no educator, have no children and haven't been in school in over ten years, I think I'll stay well away from that one.

I did however find out just yesterday that the local Francophone Association in Saint John is completing a French language medical facility at the Samuel de Champlain location in Millidgeville. Planned to open on October 1st of this year, the fully equipped facility will provide medical services in French including basic patient care (beginning with a Registered Nurse and Nurse Practioner), family care (when a Francophone physician has been secured, which they are very actively recruiting right now), and video conferencing with specialists (ex. a psychologist in Northern NB). They have also secured at least one tenant in the building - a Francophone massage therapist.

Fully half of the facility is set aside to be rented by other Francophone medical service providers, which if you ask me is a no-brainer business opportunity for a dentist, dietician, alternative practioner, you name it. As far as I can tell this is a first of it's kind facility in Saint John (unique), is ideally located on the grounds of the only French public school in the community (captivated market) and because it's new and designed for this purpose I suspect it's a heck of a lot easier to set-up shop in than retrofitting an older building (cheaper in the long run and less stress!).

I think this is a pretty exciting development for Saint John and a beneficial service not only to local residents, but to all of the visitors from around the province (particularly the predominently French-speaking north) who come to Saint John for services at the Regional Hospital.