Windsor, Ont. — Windsor Regional Hospital is getting ready to open a new paediatric clinic for urgent medical assessments of children 17 years of age and under at the site of its former Met Campus COVID-19 Assessment Centre.
The Paediatric Urgent Medical Assessment (PUMA) Clinic will open on Tuesday, Aug. 31 and is intended for urgent medical COVID-19 assessments of children 17 years of age and under.
The clinic will be open seven days a week from noon until 8 p.m.
Hospital officials say the goal of the clinic is to handle a recent and expected continued surge in children and youth seeking medical attention amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It is hoped that this clinic will help focus on this demographic and divert patients from the Emergency Department to help reduce wait times for all demographics.
“We had always contemplated that the Met Campus COVID-19 Assessment Centre could be used again dependent on community need,” said WRH Chief Nursing Executive and Chief Operating Officer Karen Riddell.
“With a recent rise in paediatric cases, along with the potential for continued growth in child and youth cases with the return of in person classes at school, we felt this was an important step in helping ensure this population receives timely medical attention while diverting pressure from our existing Emergency Departments,” she adds.
The PUMA Clinic will offer COVID-19 testing, urgent care medical assessment based on potential COVID-19 symptoms and, where appropriate, COVID-19 vaccinations using the approved Pfizer vaccine for those born in 2009 or later. Hospital officials say as always, in the event of child and youth emergencies, call 911.
They expect to see about nine children per hour and have space for 60 bookings per day.
“This centre will be focused on next day appointments that are required when their cohort is dismissed or when parents have children that might be experiencing symptoms of COVID-19,” says Riddell.
The booking site opened at 12 p.m. Aug. 30, 2021. It will open at noon every day to book still available same day and next day paediatric urgent medical appointments.
To book an appointment online visit wrh.on.ca/OnlineBooking. (Note: Internet Explorer is not a supported browser for the online booking tool). You will be asked to create a user profile and have a working email address. Indicate Windsor under location.
You can also book an appointment by calling 519-973-4443. Phones are answered Monday - Friday, between 8 am and 4 pm. Please have your health card ready.
“We would encourage parents to book their children here because we have access here, not that we don’t have access at Ouellette, but it’s more immediate that we have the paediatric expertise available at this site,” says Riddell.
The Clinic is located at the former site of the Met Campus COVID-19 Assessment Centre, in a temporary building constructed almost a year ago in the parking area adjacent to the Met Campus Emergency Department.
The Ouellette Campus COVID-19 Assessment Centre remains open to patients from Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Go to www.wrh.on.ca for more information on the Ouellette Campus COVID-19 Assessment Centre.
PARENT REACTION
The new clinic is reassuring for Windsor mom Angie Turcotte, whose kids – ages 11 and 15, are heading back to school next week.
“I think it’s great that they are doing that, but I am very concerned that there’s an actual need for it,” says Turcotte.
Turcotte says it’s even more difficult to send her kids to school this year, due to the number of COVID cases in the community.
“I thought it would be a lot easier to take them back in September, but it’s not, it’s probably harder.”
