Two and done.
That’s the reality of the seasonal care clinic in Chatham-Kent.
A joint effort by the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance and C-K EMS, it ran out of a trailer outside the Chatham emergency department ran Monday to Friday during the day during the respiratory ailment season.
Last flu season, the clinic served more than 1,300 people. In doing so, it helped divert people out of the emergency department, easing the pressure on that unit.
The plan was to serve people who did not have a physician/nurse practitioner or could not be seen in a timely manner by their primary health-care provider during the seasonal surge of cold, flu and respiratory illness.
And that’s where it fell short.
Caen Suni, vice-president of clinical programs and operations, said between 80 and 90 per cent of the people who utilized the clinic did have a primary-care provider.
Sliding over to the clinic was done out of convenience.
While the seasonal care clinic won’t operate, Suni said the bridge care clinic on Emma Street will continue to run. It’s a weekend clinic run for people who do not have a primary-care health provider, be they a doctor or nurse practitioner.
As for what is to come this respiratory illness season, Suni said health officials aren’t yet sure.
“I don’t think we have a good sense of what to expect. The last couple of years were interesting,” he said. “We shifted hard into flu (last year) and then strep the year before that.”
Suni encourages everyone to get a flu shot this fall, as well as a Covid booster.
“We’ll have more of a strategy rolling out as the flu season approaches. I strongly advise residents to get vaccinated for flu and Covid,” he said.