It’s not a replacement for the now-closed emergency department, but Minden is going to have a new urgent care clinic as of the end of June.
The Ontario government announced on Tuesday (June 20) it will be providing funding to the Kawartha North Family Health Team to open an urgent care clinic to provide routine and urgent care to people in the community.
According to the Kawartha North Family Health Team, urgent care services are for people who have unexpected but non-life-threatening health issues that usually require same-day treatment.
The clinic will open in the former location of the Minden emergency department at 4575 Deep Bay Road, which Haliburton Highlands Health Services permanently closed on June 1 due to a lack of staffing after providing six weeks’ notice to the community.
Despite petitions and protests from Minden-area residents and local politicians urging a moratorium, the emergency department was closed, with all emergency services consolidated at the Haliburton hospital — located a minimum 25-minute drive away from Minden.
On May 31, the Kawartha North Family Health Team put forward an expression of interest to the Ministry of Health for funding to operate an urgent care clinic at the former Minden emergency department site.
“As a resident of Minden Hills myself, I realize the limitation of our resources and how stretched health care providers are, especially during the busy summer season,” wrote Kawartha North Family Health Team executive director Marina Hodson in a statement. “We hope that if this proposal is approved, we would be able to alleviate some of this burden.”
Along with operating funding, the Ministry of Health will provide one-time funding to allow the Kawartha North Family Health Team to purchase equipment from the clinic. The clinic will be itself will be managed entirely by the non-profit Kawartha North Family Health Team and its board of directors, and will be staffed with the team’s nurse practitioners and registered practical nurses. Care will be provided through walk-ins and booked appointments.
“(The Kawartha North Family Health Team) has provided care to the Minden Hills community since 2007,” Hodson said on Tuesday. “We are very proud to be responding to a community need and continue our commitment to service by operating an urgent care clinic at the Minden site.”
The clinic will be supported by Haliburton Highlands Health Services, which continues to offer ultrasounds, x-rays, physiotherapy, and diabetes education at the Minden site.
The clinic will open over the Canada Day long weekend, from 12 to 6 p.m. from Friday, June 30th until Monday, July 3rd.
After the long weekend, it will be open on weekends only, with planning underway to operate the clinic seven days a week once it is fully staffed.
Hours of operation will be posted on the websites of the Kawartha North Family Health Team, Haliburton Highlands Health Services, and Kawartha Lakes Haliburton Ontario Health Team.
