UPDATE Dr Sonnichsen Retiring from Family Practice

01 March 2022

TO:   All Patients of Dr David Sonnichsen

RE: Dr Sonnichsen Retirement from Family Practice - Effective 30 Apr 2022

Dear Patients,

Since the 31 January 2022 announcement of Dr Sonnichsen’s retirement from Family Practice (effective 30 April 2022), to assume a new position at Kootenay Lake Hospital as GP Oncologist, we have been working hard to relocate as many patients as possible.

To date, we have successfully relocated about 1/3 of Dr Sonnichsen’s practice who are patients with the highest degree of medical need. Next we are working on the group of patients who have lower immediate medical needs. While we wish that we could relocate all patients to other providers within our clinic, we know this will not be possible.

To aid patients in finding a new physician, all patients who have not yet been reassigned to another provider are encouraged to register themselves with both Health Link BC. Once registered, Healthlink will contact registrants directly when a primary care provider is available

https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-connect-registry/kootenay-boundary

Additionally, other clinics in our community are taking names to wait lists and are also successfully clearing names from those wait lists when new providers join their practices. We therefore encourage patients to contact community clinics and explore the opportunity to be put on a waiting list for a new doctor.

We will continue to relocate as many patients as possible and appreciate your patience as we work through this process. In the interim, please ensure you are registered with Healthlink BC and at other local community clinics,

Respectfully,

Kootenay Medical Centre