L'ARDOISE - A longtime medical centre in this Richmond County community is about to find out whether it will qualify for $3,000 in emergency funding that the centre's board chair requested of Richmond Municipal Council earlier this month.

Tonight's regular monthly council meeting in Arichat is expected to include a motion from the Committee of the Whole meeting held two weeks earlier. If approved, the motion would see the municipality donate a sum of $3,000 requested by the Dr. William B. Kingston Memorial Community Health Centre to combat rising costs that have come as a result of the L'Ardoise-based clinic losing one of its two regular physicians at this time last year. 

Speaking to the March 8 Committee of the Whole meeting, Kingston Centre board chair Juanita Mombourquette told municipal councillors that the departure of a physician last March resulted in a monthly reduction of $3,000 from the rental fees that the centre would normally collect from a general pracitioner that keeps regular hours at the facility.

As a result, according to Mombourquette, Kingston Centre officials were forced to spend $30,000 from a community-based fund that was designed for building maintenance and emergency repairs, and the centre has been forced to stop seeking provincial and federal grants for everything from seniors' programs to specialized medical outreach, since a sudden stoppage in operations could force these programs to abruptly end. 

As a result, council has asked its Chief Financial Officer, Jason Martell, and other council staff to look into the feasibility of providing $3,000 in emergency funding while working towards a longer-term solution. 

While District Three councillor Melanie Sampson suggested that further study could be undertaken to ensure that assistance to the Kingston Centre would line up more cleanly with Richmond County's true budgetary picture, Mombourquette balked at this idea. 

"I'm not sure my board will be happy if I don't go for the $3,000 for this month," Mombourquette suggested.