OttawaThe Ottawa Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic clinic opened on Montreal Road in Vanier, just east of the downtown, in an area that has some of the highest rates of marginalization in the city.Clinic in Vanier aims to accept up to 6,000 patients from the nearby areaKimberley Molina · CBC News · Posted: Sep 19, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 31 minutes agoHoda Mankal is a primary care nurse practitioner and executive director of the Ottawa Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic. (Kimberley Molina/CBC)A first-of-its-kind clinic has opened in Ottawa, providing medical care solely through nurse practitioners to residents around Vanier. The Ottawa Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic has opened on Montreal Road, just east of downtown.”The need for primary healthcare is dire,” said Hoda Mankal, a primary care nurse practitioner and executive director of the clinic.The not-for-profit clinic aims to serve up to 6,000 people in Vanier and Overbrook, focusing on people with the highest need who are living in the K1L and K1K postal codes.”There is an estimated 14,000 people without access to care just within those two postal codes,” Mankal said.”In essence, it’s the population that has been historically underserved by health and social services.” A large ribbon was cut to officially open the Ottawa Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic on Montreal Road in Vanier on Sept. 18, 2025. (Kimberley Molina/CBC)Residents in Vanier and Overbrook face some of the highest rates of marginalization in Ottawa, according to Mankal, with many new immigrants and refugees, and others facing precarious housing, poverty and food insecurity. The clinic also aims to help those facing mental health issues and will work closely with the nearby Montfort Hospital, where up to 30 percent of patients to the emergency room have mental health or substance abuse issues. Nurse practitioners have a higher level of training than registered nurses and may prescribe controlled medication.The clinic’s funding comes from the Ontario Ministry of Health and will provide for a social worker, a mental health team, a psychiatrist and patient navigator on site.This is one of the clinic rooms where people will be treated by a nurse practitioner at the new Ottawa Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic in Vanier. (Kimberley Molina/CBC)Staff will also help visitors apply for assistance from Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program, as well as helping people to access affordable food.Nurse practitioners at the clinic speak a variety of languages, including French, English, Spanish, and Arabic.Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Rawlson King hopes the new clinic will help address a shortage of family doctors in his ward.”It’s really heartbreaking when people reach out and say … ‘Do you have any linkages to family physicians or to clinics that are taking patients?’ and you have to say, ‘No’,” King said.People contact his office asking for help connecting with a family doctor because they have prescriptions they need filled, he said.”I think why I’m so excited is, we can finally say yes when people reach out to us and we know that that’ll make a real difference in people’s lives,” King said.ABOUT THE AUTHORKimberley Molina is a reporter with a focus on health-related stories for CBC Ottawa. She can be reached at kimberley.molina@cbc.ca.Twitter
First-of-its-kind clinic in Ottawa offers nurse practitioners to patients
