Within a minute of opening on Dec. 31, the Willett Urgent Care Center in Paris already had 35 people in line to see a doctor. By noon, they had reached capacity and stopped accepting new patients.
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“We can confirm we are seeing a higher volume of patients in the past few days,” said Michael Marini, a spokesperson for Brant Community Healthcare System (BCHS) — which operates the Willett and Brantford General Hospital.
Many family doctors are closed for the holidays, walk-in clinics have reduced hours and folks wait until after holiday obligations to seek treatment, all contributing to a post-holiday crush, he said.
Compounding matters, a staff shortage shuttered the Willett early on Monday night.
With widespread physician recruitment challenges, staff sick calls and pre-approved time off, “we kept the facility open as long as possible, but in the best interest of quality care, we made the rare decision to close early and subsequently alerted the public, ”Marini said.
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And while BCHS isn’t experiencing any “significant outbreaks,” Brantford General Hospital’s emergency department was similarly inundated.
Patients were looking at an average wait of two to three hours to be seen on Monday morning, but overnight, the longest wait time approached 15 hours due to “extremely high volumes and expected holiday surge,” Marini said.
For residents with non-urgent symptoms, there are other options available.
“We encourage residents, if they cannot visit a family physician first, to utilize the free services accessible 24-7 through virtual urgent care,” Marini said.
Visit urgentcareontario.ca or health811.ontario.ca/static/guest/home or call 811 to speak with a registered nurse.
Pharmacists can also assess and prescribe prescriptions for common ailments like cough, cold, pink eye, uncomplicated urinary tract infections and yeast infections.
For more information, visit ontario.ca/page/pharmacies.
Celeste Percy-Beauregard is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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