By Mike Anderson

The Town of Georgina made it official last week, signing a “non-binding” memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Southlake Regional Health Centre and the Northern York South Simcoe Ontario Health Team (NYSS), at a public ceremony held at the MURC on June 27.

The MOU paves the way for the construction of a new urgent care clinic in Georgina, that will also provide expanded health and wellness programs.

Urgent care clinics, according to the province, provide treatment through emergency-trained doctors for urgent, but non-life threatening illnesses or injuries, like infections, cuts, minor burns and broken bones.

“This is a game changer for healthcare in our community that will benefit generations to come,” said Mayor Margaret Quirk in her opening remarks.

“We’re not just talking about improved health care, but a brick and mortar building that will deliver enhanced and wellness programs and urgent care needs in our community.”

“It means that this facility will provide many services that today Georgina residents have to travel to Southlake hospital to receive.”

MPP Caroline Mulroney also spoke at the signing, outlining her support for the initiative and her government’s commitment to improving healthcare in Georgina.

“Since my election, I have been strongly advocating in Queen’s Park for improved healthcare services for the residents of Georgina,” she said.

“Today’s announcement exemplifies the spirit of collaboration that brings important projects to fruition. I want to thank Southlake Hospital, their leadership and municipal partners in Georgina for their ongoing commitment to our community. And I look forward to supporting you, as we work towards the best patient experience for everyone.”

While the MOU is welcome news to Georgina residents, details on the size, location, hours of operation and cost of the new urgent care clinic have not been disclosed.

Additionally, the MOU is non-binding, which allows the parties to walk away if key terms- which have also not been made public – are not met.

However, Dr. Paul Woods, Southlake’s CEO and President, confirmed the hospital is looking at several possible locations in Georgina.

“The actual site is still to be determined, But we’re having some pretty focused conversations about potential sites for this,” Dr. Woods told the Post.

“It will be fully in Georgina, but the levels of talks now is still too confidential to be able to disclose.”

Although Dr. Woods hinted during his remarks that shovels might be in the ground in the coming months, he later hedged his comments, referring to them as a stretch goal.

“It is possible. I’m prone to making stretch goals, but I also have a team that has a habit of making stretch goals come true,” he said.

Still, Dr. Woods confirmed that urgent care is coming to Georgina.

“Certainly, the ambulatory surgery centre is something I’d like to see — where a child with a broken arm, or a parent with early pneumonia and some mild congestive heart failure are seen and managed.”

The facility will also provide access to a range of health providers under one roof, referred to as an interprofessional primary health care team, including doctors, nurse practitioners, dieticians, physiotherapists, as well as social workers, which Dr. Woods says will help reduce ER visits.

“Many more patients can be cared for with more complex problems. And traditionally, those end up going to the emergency department,” he said.

Reducing residents visits to Southlake’s ER is an important consideration.

Georgina residents accounted for more than 20,000 visits to Southlake’s ER last year, according to Dr. Woods.

“There’s a large number from Georgina and it represents just the lack of access. And some of it is the model of care. An interprofessional care model is able to care for many more patients because everything isn’t done by a doctor or nurse practitioner,” he said.

“We believe more modern models, and expanded access hours will be a big part in being able to give people access to primary care so that they can get their, low acuity, more chronic disease treated, while not having to go to Southlake.”

Health Georgina Chair Steve Jacobson was pleased that Southlake, NYSS and the Town are moving ahead with a new urgent care clinic.

“This is fantastic. This is what we as a Board have being trying to advocate for. We went to council and asked for money to work towards something like this. We need this care. And we have to take the pressure off Southlake’s ER.”

While Jacobson applauds the move to build the clinic, he cautions there is still a need to attract family physicians to Georgina.

“We still need family physicians. According to provincial statistics, one in six is going to retire shortly and that’s going to impact us. We currently have a lot of doctors in Keswick. But in Sutton and Pefferlaw there is a shortage.”

Jacobson acknowledges the Town’s health care strategy is pivoting to focus on the new clinic, but he’s hopeful the Town will continue to work with Health Georgina.

“I’m optimistic. The Mayor has promised to set up a meeting shortly to talk about that issue. We’re hoping they are going to stay behind us and support us,” he said.

“This is a benefit to the community and were behind it all the way,” added Beth Cowper-Fung, Clinic Director, Georgina Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic (GNPLC).

Cowper-Fung says the addition of urgent care will complement the services GNPLC is providing, and significantly raise the level of health care in Georgina.

“We can do minor wounds, or set a bone, but that’s not the same as needing to have a larger wound treated. The new clinic will be able handle more acute illnesses and that’s amazing,” she said.

“If we have everyone working together, so that when somebody, like a senior, is discharged from urgent care, they can get them attached right away to the Alzheimer’s Society if they have dementia or CHATS if they need transportation, that will be great.”

Cowper-Fung also says GNPLC is working with Southlake on a Paediatric Urgent Care Clinic that they plan to have open in August. The clinic will be located in Keswick at Southlake’s Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT) site, 443 The Queensway S, in the Glenwoods Plaza.

Mike Anderson
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