2 Whitehorse physicians to retire when clinic closes, leaving some Yukoners without family doctor

The Whitehorse Medical Services clinic will be closing its doors in the spring, and two of its doctors will be retiring — leaving some Yukoners without a family physician.

Dr. Johanna Rockenstein works at the clinic and said physicians who practise there thought it was "time for a change."

Eleven of the 13 doctors at the clinic are relocating to other locations, while the other two — Dr. Zale Apramian and Dr. Lia Johnson — decided it was time to hang up the stethoscope for good and retire, in April. 

"All of the doctors moving to new locations will be taking their patients with them," Rockenstein said. "Dr. Apramian and Dr. Johnson will be closing their practice. Unfortunately their patients will not be redistributed."

That means patients of Johnson and Apramian will have to find a new family physician. 

Some of the 11 physicians who are moving their practice will go to the Klondyke Medical Clinic while the rest, including Rockenstein, are moving into a new clinic called Equinox Health, set to open on Lowe Street in April.

A poster has been placed on the door of the Whitehorse Medical Services clinic notifying patients of the closure. Rockenstein said doctors have also been sharing the information with patients through letters, and posters throughout the waiting rooms.

"[For] those patients of the doctors who will be moving to a different location, there should be relatively little interruption in their care," Rockenstein said.

"For those patients whose doctors are closing their practice, their medical record will be available for those patients who would like to request them, and those medical records will also be stored securely for a number of years as required."

Long-time Whitehorse resident Bruce Griffiths said he is among the group of Yukoners who will no longer have a family doctor come April, and he's not happy about how he heard the news.

He said he only learned that his doctor was retiring when he received a phone call "out of the blue" from a records storage company in B.C. while he was in Victoria being treated for a heart condition.

"The woman on the phone started reading what sounded like a prepared message telling me that Dr. Apramian's office and Whitehorse Medical was closing," he said. "And all my medical records for the last 40 years or so had been transferred to them."

Griffiths said nobody from the Whitehorse Medical Services clinic has contacted either him or his sons, who are also patients of Apramian.

Griffiths said after being a patient of the clinic for so long, he feels the situation is "pretty lousy," and said his personal records were transferred without his knowledge or consent.

"I will find another doctor if I live long enough," he said. "My issue is the way this was handled. I should have been contacted by the clinic, and my doctor... told what was going to happen, and given the opportunity to collect my medical records and pass them to my new doctor when I found one."