It's not the end to the year staff and patients at the Sheep River Nurse Practitioners Clinic were wanting to see.

The clinic was a pilot project, and due to a funding model the government failed to present, it will now be closing in the new year.

Nicole Entz, nurse practitioner at the Sheep River Medical Clinic, says it will be difficult to find a new position.

"My partner, she was a full time NP, had to find another job, there's not many jobs out there, so she was fortunate enough to have found a position in the city," she says.

"In regard to other family practice positions, at this point in time they really don't exist so I will probably be temporarily unemployed."

Entz says their patients have always been their first concern and they're doing what they can for them to have a smooth transition.

"We worked very closely with the Primary Care Network to make sure we had names of physicians who would be taking new patients, so there's physicians in High River, some here at the clinic, and physicians at other clinics who have been kind enough to take on some of our patients. Certainly our goal was never to leave patients in a lurch."

She adds from the beginning they've been well supported by the Primary Care Network and that it's unfortunate timelines weren't able to meet for funding.

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