Fort Erie Urgent Care Centre to reopen February 23

After being shut down last month to redistribute medical staff elsewhere in the region, the Fort Erie Urgent Care Centre is back open on February 23 at 8 am.

Niagara Health, the body that oversees Niagara hospitals, reluctantly closed it down as they were running into severe staffing shortages due to the rise of Omicron.

Now that the wave is starting to die down, the group has given the okay to the Fort Erie facility starting back up with 24/7 service to the community.

“We are pleased to be in a position to start reopening services for patients, and appreciate the community’s understanding during this challenging fifth wave when we had to make difficult decisions to prioritize care for patients needing critical, emergency and acute care services,” says Lynn Guerriero, Niagara Health President and CEO.

“It is going to take time to get back to full capacity, recognizing that we must do so in a safe way,” she added. “The pandemic is not over, so we need to ensure capacity to care for a potential surge of COVID-19 patients. It is also important that we prioritize the health and wellbeing of our staff and physicians who are exhausted after battling this virus for two years.”

As well, with recent shift in provincial direction, Niagara Health will start the gradual resumption of surgical, procedural and outpatient services beginning next week (February 14).

Niagara Health says patients will be contacted directly to re-schedule their appointments for surgeries, procedures and outpatient services. “They do not need to contact the hospital.”

Niagara Health is seeing far lower volumes of COVID-19 hospitalizations. As of February 8, there were 73 patients in Niagara hospitals with COVID-19.