Because the demand for pediatric well being care throughout the province surges, a brand new clinic specializing in treating kids for colds, influenza and COVID-19 has opened in Toronto’s east finish.
An initiative of East Toronto Well being Companions, the Ontario well being staff serving east Toronto, the brand new Chilly, Flu and COVID-19 Clinic for Children launched on Nov. 28 at Thorncliffe Park Group Hub, 45 Overlea Blvd., inside East York City Centre.
The choice to open the brand new clinic on this particular neighbourhood was based mostly on numbers, Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) advised CP24.com.
The hospital mentioned its emergency division, together with its Youngster and Youth Emergency Zone, is at the moment seeing about 130 households per day, lots of which have kids who’ve chilly, flu and respiratory signs. On the busiest days, as many as 20 per cent of these households come from higher-needs communities, together with Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park, MGH famous.
“Information from Michael Garron Hospital signifies that lots of the households we’re seeing within the Emergency Division dwell in Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park, two neighbourhoods in East Toronto that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic – as soon as once more proving that the problems impacting our well being system don’t have an effect on all people equally,” Phillip Anthony, the east-end hospital’s supervisor of neighborhood outreach companies, mentioned in a information launch.
“To assist deal with these inequities, we’re thrilled to proceed our collaboration with companions by opening the Chilly, Flu and COVID-19 Clinic for Children, which goals to make it simpler for native households to get the care they want in a spot they will belief that’s nearer to residence.”
Youngsters and youth aged three months to 17 years who’re experiencing chilly, flu and COVID-19 signs together with fever, cough, runny nostril, and sore throat are welcome to go to the brand new clinic if they will’t entry their paediatrician, household physician, or different major care supplier.
Youngsters experiencing pressing, extreme, and doubtlessly life-threatening well being points ought to go on to MGH’s emergency division, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days every week.
Among the companies supplied on the Chilly, Flu and COVID-19 Clinic for Children embrace assessments by physicians, entry to kids’s chilly, fever, and ache drugs in addition to COVID-19 therapy, and PCR testing.
“With chilly, flu and different respiratory viruses circulating and a nation-wide scarcity of over-the-counter medicines for youngsters, we acknowledge this respiratory season has been notably difficult for households,” mentioned Dr. Catherine Yu of the East Toronto Household Observe Community.
“That is very true for households who’re unattached to major care. By working with our hospital and neighborhood companions to open a devoted Chilly, Flu and COVID-19 Clinic for Children in East Toronto, we hope to make care as low-barrier as potential for native residents, so kids and youth can get the helps they want in a protected and well timed method.”
The clinic, which accepts sufferers with appointments and walk-ins, is staffed by medical doctors, nurses and different staff members from Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) and East Toronto Household Observe Community with the assist of neighborhood companions, together with TNO – The Neighbourhood Group, Flemingdon Well being Centre, and Well being Entry Thorncliffe Park.
The brand new Chilly, Flu and COVID-19 Clinic for Children launched on Nov. 28 at Thorncliffe Park Group Hub, 45 Overlea Blvd., inside East York City Centre. (Joanna Lavoie photograph)
This new initiative is one in every of a variety of methods East Toronto Well being Companions’ 50+ neighborhood, major care, residence care, hospital and social companies organizations are working collectively to enhance pediatric care within the metropolis’s east finish. The native Ontario Well being Workforce supplies care and assist to upwards of 375,000 individuals locally yearly.
One other notable initiative is MGH’s Youngster and Youth Emergency Zone, a family-friendly house subsequent to the hospital’s emergency division that gives pressing, acute medical care for youngsters and youth when their paediatrician or household physician is just not accessible.
The Youngster and Youth Emergency Zone at MGH has served greater than 20,000 households because it opened in October 2021. This system not too long ago elevated its hours of operation and upped staffing to assist the excessive demand for paediatric care locally.
Different methods the native well being staff is responding to this surge, which is inflicting elevated emergency division visits, longer-than-normal wait occasions and a rise in hospital admissions, is by opening the Well being Entry Taylor-Massey social companies centre in Crescent City in October.
The staff can also be doing chilly, flu and COVID-19 assessments and psychological well being counselling for all ages in Flemingdon Park, supporting pharmacies in precedence neighbourhoods in east Toronto to make sure they’ve dependable emergency entry to over-the-counter drugs for infants and kids, and working cell and pop-up vaccine clinics at neighborhood centres, house buildings, and different areas in precedence neighbourhoods locally.
Dozens of neighborhood well being ambassadors and advisors have additionally been working since early on within the pandemic in high-priority east-end neighbourhoods like Thorncliffe Park, Flemingdon Park, and Taylor-Massey to assist assist outreach and engagement in order that residents have the knowledge they should maintain themselves and their family members protected and wholesome.
“Whether or not it’s language boundaries or issue navigating the healthcare system, our employees and neighborhood well being ambassadors have seen firsthand the challenges that some (east-end) residents face relating to accessing well being, social and neighborhood companies,” Ahmed Hussein, CEO of TNO – The Neighbourhood Group, mentioned in a launch.
“We’re happy to proceed our work with companions in an effort to enhance the way in which native residents discover and get care. The neighborhood will enormously profit from with the ability to entry the companies on the Chilly, Flu and COVID-19 Clinic for Children in their very own yard.”
