COVID-19 care clinic coming to Orléans in mid-October
Clinic to be located at Ray Friel Recreation Complex on Tenth Line Road
Amid growing calls for more COVID-19 testing in Ottawa's east end, Mayor Jim Watson announced Monday that a care clinic will open at a community centre in Orléans, likely by mid-October.
The COVID-19 care clinic will be located at Ray Friel Recreation Complex and will have a separate entrance to allow recreation programming to continue at the facility, Watson said.
Geneviève Picard, a spokesperson for the Montfort Hospital, which will manage the new clinic, said the services offered at the Orléans site will be similar to those offered at the Heron Road care clinic.
This summer, Orléans MPP Stephen Blais, along with city councillors Matthew Luloff, Tim Tierney and Laura Dudas, wrote to The Ottawa Hospital's CEO, Cameron Love, asking for an assessment centre in the city's east end.
In early September, a drive-thru test site opened on Coventry Road, just east of downtown, but it only provides in-vehicle tests and patients must be 14 or older. Luloff said at the time, it wasn't enough to meet the needs of residents in Orléans.
We are really pleased to finally be able to announce the upcoming opening of a COVID-19 care clinic at the Ray Friel Complex in Orléans.<a href="https://t.co/D8qDczd4Sz">https://t.co/D8qDczd4Sz</a> <a href="https://t.co/gW7rdxLqCb">https://t.co/gW7rdxLqCb</a> <a href="https://t.co/iHLVKFieTV">pic.twitter.com/iHLVKFieTV</a>
—@hopitalmontfort
That care clinic, along with the Moodie Drive location, provides patients with testing and treatments for respiratory illnesses. Care clinics are open on weekdays and are equipped to perform basic diagnostic testing like chest X-rays and lab testing.
Ottawa's assessment centres, such as the one at Brewer Arena, offer assessments and testing for COVID-19 and have longer operating hours, seven days a week.
