The Emergency Department at Coronation Hospital and Care Centre is facing another round of temporary closures during the month of September due to noted “gaps in physician coverage.”
According to a media release issued by Alberta Health Services (AHS), the hospital will have 24-hour closures four times, with the first occurring today, Sept.7 from 8 a.m. until 8 a.m. Sept. 8.
Subsequent 8 a.m. to 8 a.m. closures will also occur on Sept. 11, Sept. 18, and Sept. 26.
Additionally, the Emergency Department will be closed from 8 a.m. Sept. 14 until noon on Sept. 15; and two other 28-hour closures on Sept. 21 and Sept. 28.
The release notes that the closures come about as efforts to secure locum coverage have been unsuccessful, though efforts remain in the works to fill any and or all of the gaps. If any of the gaps are filled, the release notes that the community will be updated.
While physicians will be unavailable during the closures, nursing staff will remain on-site to assess anyone who presents to the Emergency Department.
Depending on what is found upon assessment, staff will provide assessment and first aid, and either call for ambulance transport or direct the patient to a facility in a surrounding community.
All the facility’s other services, including in-patient care, will operate normally and are unaffected by the closures.
Anyone requiring immediate medical care during these closures is asked to call 911, or for less emergent situations, go to the Emergency Departments in Castor, Hanna, or Stettler.
For non-emergent situations, area residents are reminded to contact their family doctors for an appointment or to call Health Link at 811, a free service provided by the province which provides answers to non-emergent, health-related questions.
AHS notes that there are currently two physician vacancies in Coronation, both of which are in varying stages of being filled.
