Town holds Special Council Meeting to address urgent care hour reductions

Media Release

FORT ERIE (June 7, 2023) - On Monday, June 5, 2023, The Town of Fort Erie called
a Special Council Meeting to discuss a statement from Niagara Health on May 31, 2023,
announcing the significant reduction of Urgent Care service hours at Douglas Memorial
and its Port Colborne site by half.

A resolution by Council of the Town of Fort Erie requested the following:

• That Niagara Health reverses its decision to reduce hours at Fort Erie Urgent
  Care Centre effective July 5, 2023.

• A continuation of full-service hours, 24 hours a day, seven days per week

• Niagara Health work with the Town of Fort Erie to secure the necessary human
  resources and funding required to permit full-time Urgent Care services

• The provincial government works with Fort Erie and Niagara Health to facilitate
  a provincially funded Health Team for Fort Erie, either as a stand-alone or in
  conjunction with the City of Port Colborne, to address the immediate and long-term health care needs of residents

• The provincial and federal governments immediately take steps to alleviate the
  staffing shortages in hospital and health care systems, which includes
  streamlining the process of permitting qualified doctors, nurses and other health
  professionals from other countries to practice their profession in Canada

Council also directed the Chief Administrative Officer to create a plan of options to
identify resources and funding requirements to meet Fort Erie residents' immediate and
long-term healthcare needs. The plan will be developed in collaboration with important
community stakeholders along with municipal, provincial, and federal governments.

“It is not acceptable for the residents to be treated as second-class citizens when it
comes to access to health care. It has become increasingly evident over the past two
decades that Fort Erie will have to find its own solution to ensuring that our residents
have long term access to the primary, after hours and diagnostic health care we need
and deserve. This is an “all hands on deck” situation for our community.”
- Mayor Redekop