WRHA advises people with flu symptoms use QuickCare Clinics
Winnipeg ERs crammed with patients presenting flu, flu-like symptoms
With Winnipeg emergency rooms crammed with patients showing flu and flu-like symptoms lately, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) has asked the public to instead consider seeing their family doctors, walk-in or QuickCare Clinics.
Some Winnipeggers are on board with that advisory.
“Stay away from the hospitals, seriously,” said Cheries Pagaduan. “There's so many family members I know that are nurses and they talk about how bombarded they are in the hospitals.”
Pagaduan thinks too many people are going to emergency rooms with flu symptoms, which is putting more pressure on hospitals when they should consider other options.
“We pay for this for a reason and people abuse it,” she said. “There's things you can do at home.”
The WRHA has extended hours at its two QuickCare Clinics to cope with the flu inundation. The clinics are meant to alleviate some of the pressure currently felt by Winnipeg emergency rooms.
Pagaduan said she had never heard of the QuickCare Clinics, as did Dorothy Ford.
“I’m not familiar with them at all,” said Ford. “They don’t advertise it much at all.”
The WRHA said it has been advertising the clinics online and on social media and hopes more people take advantage of the services they provide.
The QuickCare Clinics on St. Mary’s Road had a 1½ hour wait Tuesday, shorter than the average wait at the Health Sciences Centre and St. Boniface General Hospital.
Is it the flu or just a cold?
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