Posted on Monday December 19, 2016
Durham Region - - Lakeridge Health wants you to know your health care options so you can spend more time enjoying the holidays and less time waiting in a busy Emergency Department.
“We have some of the busiest ERs in the province, and over the holiday season we get even busier,” says Leslie Motz, Lakeridge Health Vice-President and Chief Nursing Officer “Knowing your holiday health care options in advance could help you spend more time with your family and less time sitting in a busy waiting room.”
Doctors and nurses can see an average of 300 people on a typical day in the Emergency Department at Lakeridge Health. But those numbers increase as much as 25% during the busy holiday season.
People with minor cases can be seen and treated within 2 to 2.5 hours on an average day.
During the holidays, wait times for non-emergencies rise as more people use the ER and urgent cases are seen first.
Please check out all your health care options which include:
- Checking ahead of time with their family doctor or clinic for their holiday hours, and
- Knowing where your nearest urgent care or walk-in clinic is located for non-urgent health care needs.
“As always, if it’s an emergency, please go to your nearest emergency department,” says Motz.
For more information on finding health care options nearby, including family doctors accepting patients, visit Ontario's Health Care Options page.
