EMILY HSUEH
SHAWVILLE Nov. 4, 2020
The Lotus Clinic in Shawville will be experiencing a few new updates this month, including staffing changes and flu shots.
In a post to Facebook on Nov. 4, the clinic announced the addition of a new doctor to their ranks. Dr. Maha Mikhaïl has joined the clinic as a family doctor. According to owner Joanne Romain, Mikhaïl is . . .
new to the area and will also be working at the Pontiac Community Hospital (PCH) in the obstetrics unit. While the unit is still closed, Mikhaïl will join the team that monitors pregnant women as they progress and are transferred to the city to give birth.
“Hopefully when they reopen the clinic she’ll be able to work in the obstetrics department as one of the doctors that deliver babies,” Romain said.
Dr. Luis Rivero Pinelo will be leaving the clinic at the end of the month and he will be going to focus on his gastroenterology services at the PHC on Dec. 1.
“We wish him great success in his pre-retirement and a big thank you for all his years of care,” the Facebook post read.
Another doctor, Dr. Genevieve Smith, has been on sabbatical since last September, and is scheduled to return to the clinic in 2021, though a specific date has not been decided. Until then, Dr. Mikhaïl will be taking over both Dr. Pinelo and Dr. Smith’s patients, as well as taking on more of her own as time goes on.
Romain also said that there is another doctor currently working with them on placement, and will be joining the team full-time after her placement ends.
“It is a little bit hectic, we’re coping with everything, with the changes. We’ve hired more staff to work nights,” said Romain. So far the clinic has been open for pre-booked appointments and minor emergencies, but is now offering flu shots as well.
While they are not able to run at as full of a capacity as they have in previous years, Romain added that “it is working out” and that in the last week alone, they have given out 300 vaccines. Appointments must be booked in order to get a shot.
