Minden urgent care clinic closures Aug. 20 and 23 are due to “summer holiday scheduling conflicts,” according to the Kawartha North Family Health Team, which operates the clinic at the former Minden emergency department site.
KNFHT notified patients of the closure on their Facebook page Aug. 20, shortly before the clinic was scheduled to open for the day.
The health team said the clinic is open all other days this week, and apologized for the inconvenience, thanking the public for its understanding and ongoing support.
“We would also like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank all the casual staff providing coverage for the rest of this week, on top of working their full-time jobs. Your commitment and dedication to providing health care in the community that you live in, is greatly appreciated.”
KNFHT executive director, Cinnamon Tousignant, told The Highlander Aug. 20, “unfortunately, these are holiday schedule closures where we simply cannot get coverage for the nurse practitioner position.” She noted the NP is entitled to time off and summer holidays.
“We continue to try to recruit for weekday coverage, but it is very difficult, especially since all our casual staff work full-time jobs, the vast majority of them work Monday to Friday during the week. Also, the casual staff take holidays as well this time of year. There are likely going to be closures next week as well and then hopefully back to normal coverage,” she said.
Tousignant added, “we naturally understand people’s frustrations. We have been advertising since last week about the closures and we try to get the information out there as much as in advance via multiple channels, unfortunately we can’t reach everyone.”
Normal hours in fall
Asked about closures on July 31 and Aug. 1, Tousignant said it was a staff personal matter she was unwilling to discuss publicly. She noted while the clinic was shuttered for two days, it was open the rest of that week.
“Currently we post signs, inform our healthcare partners, inform the local radio station, update our Facebook/website and update the Google information bar when we have a closure.”
The clinic first opened its doors for weekends on June 30, 2023. As of Oct. 3, 2023, it is now open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is a dedicated registered practical nurse (RPN), nurse practitioner (NP), and administrative support person during the week. On the weekends, casuals fill the shifts.
Prior to the recent summer closures, they had only had to shutter for two additional days due to staffing challenges. The clinic is capable of seeing 25 patients a day, but that number can rise in summer.
See the Kawartha North Family Health Team page on Facebook for schedule updates.
