Two local hospitals close emergency room this long weekend
It’s not the kind of news folks in Clinton, wanted to hear. Their community’s emergency room will be unavailable for the entire Canada Day long weekend.
“No one likes to lose services they’re used to having, especially when they’re medical services, that might endanger someone’s life. So, no, not good news,” says Municipality of Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn.
For 84 hours, starting Friday night, and lasting until Tuesday morning, the Clinton Public Hospital’s Emergency Room will be closed, marking the longest ER closure in Clinton’s history. Physician and nursing shortages are to blame, says Deborah Wiseman, chief nursing executive with the Huron-Perth Healthcare Alliance, who anticipates more service disruptions to come this summer and beyond.
“Not just this weekend, but what you’ll see is more to come. I’m going to say for the next six months to several years, with our human healthcare shortages, both in the nursing and physician areas. We are really struggling to maintain services,” says Wiseman.
Clinton is not alone. The emergency room at the Listowel Memorial Hospital will be closed from Friday evening, until Saturday morning. Staff shortages are to blame as well.
“For the last two years, our staff have gone above and beyond and now need a break. We simply cannot ask them to do more,” says Listowel-Wingham Hospitals Alliance president Karl Ellis.
Three times last year, Clinton’s Emergency Room had to be closed for 24 hours, and an overnight ER closure has been in place since December 2019. It has some in the community fearing for the hospital’s future.
“A hospital is a fundamental part of the community, and people will decide to come or not come, based on whether there is a hospital or not. So, yeah, you always worry about that,” says Mayor Ginn.
Residents aren’t happy about the emergency room closures but seem resigned to the reality of the situation.
“If there’s an emergency still close by, it’s 10 minutes to Seaforth. We want it open as much as they can, but if they can’t make it work every day, then we’ll just have to work around that,” says Ian Fleming, who lives near Clinton.
Wiseman says they are investigating everything to try and resolve the healthcare worker shortage, and keep their Emergency Rooms open, including using paramedics in the ER.
“We don’t want to pull from one area and have that impact the community. We’re trying to be very careful and thoughtful before we make any decisions, of that nature. But, we are investigating all opportunities, for sure,” she says.
The closest hospitals to Clinton are 10 to 15 minutes away in Seaforth and Goderich. The closest hospital to Listowel is 15 minutes away in Palmerston.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.