CLINIC HISTORY
The St-Isidore Medical Center was established in the late 1970s. As an initiative of the Chamber of Commerce, the first building was constructed at what is now 4593 Ste-Catherine Street in St-Isidore. The Casselman Medical Centre maintains a regular presence through visiting doctors, and patients can be seen in both Casselman and St-Isidore (medical records are shared and travel between the two villages).
Then, one of these visiting doctors, Dr. Luc Clément, decided to establish his practice there permanently starting in 1989. Although the early days were rather quiet, Dr. Clément quickly built up an impressive patient roster. It wasn’t until 10 years later that he recruited a partner, when Dr. Manon Denis-LeBlanc also set up shop there. It’s worth noting that both are natives of the famous little village! As the office had become too small, Drs. Clément and Denis-LeBlanc moved the Center to 4553 Ste-Catherine Street on January 4, 2000.
Passionate about family medicine, but also about education, medical students and residents have been coming and going since the very beginning of the Medical Center. Eager to recruit, Dr. Clément and Dr. Denis-LeBlanc tried for years to convince the rare gem, but paper records weren’t very appealing. So, despite one’s reluctance and the other’s insistence… the electronic medical record arrived in 2010. Then, St-Isidore succeeded in attracting and retaining, one after another, many young doctors: Dr. Marjorie Pomerleau (2011), Dr. Dominique Miron (2014), Dr. Julie Koncan (2017), Dr. Marie-Claude Venne (2017), and Dr. Véronique Leblanc (2020).
After 36 years, the time has come for Dr. Clément to bow out and take a well-deserved retirement. Not wanting to leave his cherished patients without a successor, he successfully encouraged two fellow doctors to take over. Thus, the newest additions, Dr. Camille Cusson-Dufour and Dr. Marie-Anne Gougeon, joined the team in 2022. Then, Dr. Victoria Cusson joined in 2023.
Dynamic, cheerful, dedicated, passionate, and warm-hearted, the current doctors (yes, all women, but that’s just a coincidence) are delighted to be able to work in such a welcoming environment. Surrounded by an indispensable support team, they form a solid and committed team.
That said, as the practice continued to grow, space once again became limited. It was time to move up St. Catherine Street once more (to 4512, to be precise) to settle into offices twice as large. The big move took place on July 19, 2024.
At the same time, the Center also changed its name to: St-Isidore MÉDICAL.
It should be noted that education remains a cornerstone of this center. The last seven doctors completed their family medicine residency here, one of the key sites of the Montfort Unit within the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa. And they all remain committed to training current students. During the pandemic, the center not only continued to provide primary care but also consistently welcomed students to allow them to continue their vital training. The education of future family physicians is deeply rooted at the heart of this practice.
