Niverville Town Council has hired an outside party to investigate what it will take to keep their medical clinic from closing its doors.

Open Health announced last week that they could be ceasing operations as early as spring to allow certain doctors to deal with personal health concerns. Not wanting to lose that vital service, Council took action.

Read more: Niverville Council Hoping To Keep Open Health Open

“As a next step, we’ve decided to hire an independent expert to assist Council in looking at how to move on this situation.”

Mayor Myron Dyck says the former CEO of Southern Health, Kathy McPhail, has been asked to look into the issue and provide Council with educated recommendations on how to ensure the short term and long term sustainability of the clinic.

“We figured that a professional that had more knowledge than the members of Council would be best at advising them as to what possibilities or opportunities there might be,” he explains. “[McPhail] has worked in the region and very much understands what the Open Health clinic is.”

The consultation is scheduled to be completed by February 14. Dyck says this timeline will give his team the resources to be proactive rather than reactive.

Read more: The Niverville Medical Clinic May Be Closing its Doors