Archive

Headwaters COVID Assessment Centre moving to new location

June 23, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Paula Brown

The COVID-19 Assessment Centre operated by Headwater’s Health Care Centre (HHCC) will be moving to a new location at the start of July.

The local hospital announced in a press release on June 20 that the COVID-19 Assessment Centre would be combining with the Dufferin Cold & Flu Clinic and would be relocating to Orangeville Pharmacy.

“Since the first half of 2022, there has been a decline in testing at the COVID-19 Assessment Centre as a result of changes in criteria from the province and an increase in vaccination rates,” said the press release from Kim Delahunt, HHCC president and CEO, and Lianne Barbour, executive director of Dufferin Area Family Health Team. “To best serve our patients, families, and caregivers the decision has been made to amalgamate the COVID-19 Assessment Centre and the Dufferin Cold & Flu Clinic.”

Orangeville Pharmacy, located at Unit 5-50 Rolling Hills Drive, will begin scheduling appointments for COVID-19 testing as of July 4.

Appointment will be available Monday to Thursday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and can be made by calling 1-888-530-1319. The phone lines to book an appointment will open at 8:30 a.m. and will close once all appointments are filled for the evening. Patients are encouraged to contact their family doctor first for an appointment.

Headwaters said they anticipate a reduction in hours of operation over the summer months as fewer people have cold and flu symptoms.

The hospital also noted that most of the community remains ineligible for COVID-19 testing with testing being prioritized for those at increased risk of a severe outcome and those living or working in high-risk settings.

Headwaters still requires patients going in for surgery to complete pre-operative COVID-19 testing at the hospital.

Headwaters Hospital said instructions will be provided to the patient by their surgeon’s office when arrangements are being made for surgery.

The COVID-19 Assessment Centre opened at Headwaters Health Care Centre more than two years ago and has seen a number of adaptions and changes including an original outdoor location in the hospital’s parking lot, moving inside to the Ambulatory Care wing, setting up a booking system and call centre, and testing guidelines.

Dufferin Area Family Health Team, in cooperation with the Hills of Headwaters Collaborative Ontario Health Team partners, opened the Dufferin Cold & Flu Clinic in October of 2020. The clinic provided assessments for symptomatic patients and assessed over 5,000 patients in three different locations.

“We greatly appreciate the heroic and dedicated efforts of the many staff who have been involved with setting up, relocating, managing and operating both the COVID-19 Assessment Centre and the Dufferin Cold & Flu Clinic over the past two years to ensure our community has received the best care possible,” said Delahunt and Barbour. “We will continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 both in the community and hospital and will be ready to mobilize and ramp up our collective response if needed at any point.”

Readers Comments (0)