In opening Hamilton's newest hospital clinic, Jackie Work did what her late father often liked to do - "take a stick and poke the bear" of government.

"Both levels of government should be ashamed of themselves," she said at the clinic Monday. "A billion dollars wasted on a gas plant - billions more handed out to corporations on grants and subsidies. . That money would have been better spent on our health care industry."

Her family's philanthropic organization, the Marta and Owen Boris Foundation, is funding the Boris Clinic for timely access, diagnosis and treatment at McMaster University Medical Centre (MUMC). It is part of the family's $30-million gift to McMaster in 2012.

"In a perfect world, we wouldn't need to fund this clinic," Work said. "Our money could be more productively spent on health research to effect better disease treatments and cures."

The $6-million adult outpatient clinic enables patients with complex health problems to see several specialists under one roof and to have related tests done during one visit.

"We had in mind a clinic that would stand alongside world renowned institutions like the Mayo and Cleveland clinics," Work said.

"A universal health care system is not effective unless it is not only accessible by all, but able to timely treat patients. . Clearly, our system needs an overhaul."

Work said her family's donation began with the health care experiences of her parents, Owen and Marta, and their friends.

"They ran around to different specialists, months apart, with no coordination of diagnosis or treatment, no resolution to their (current) problems, and new ones as drug treatments by various specialists interacted and caused side effects."

She said in an interview later that her father, who died in 2011, had a rash that wouldn't go away, and her mother had trouble holding things - they would slip out of her hands.

After months of shuffling around specialists, her father got fed up and took her mother to the Mayo Clinic in the U.S., she said. Within a short time, her mother was diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder and her father's rash was found to be caused by the contraindications of his medications, which were then adjusted or changed.

"It just took that co-ordination of people to look at everything as a whole and figure out what was going on. Both my parents were so impressed with the level of care they got. Not just the speed, but that the doctors worked as a team and were very communicative. My dad said we need that here," Work said.

"Why can't public money fund this type of system?" she wondered. "I don't know where the fall-down is."

The Boris Clinic, with its rapid cross-referral between doctors, will reduce the complexity and stress patients face as they navigate the health care system, Work said.

Steve Campbell, 56, is among the first to get the clinic's rapid assessment and treatment.

He went to the Hamilton General ER with chest pains on a Thursday, and by the next Tuesday was sent to the Boris Clinic, where he met with a nurse and then a cardiologist. He had a stress test within the hour and the doctor had the results 20 minutes later.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Campbell was then sent by ambulance back to the General where, on the same day, doctors put a stent in his heart to open a 95-per-cent blockage in an artery.

"Clearly, I was the most surprised to be in and get this done in 24 hours," he said, adding that the clinic will save lives. "It gets to the problem and a plan of action right away."