New Urgent Care Facility opens in Barrhaven

Hospital workers

If you live in Ottawa's West End, your access to medical services is better than ever.

That’s all thanks to a new Urgent Care facility that opened in Barrhaven, Monday, located on Greenbank Road at Berrigan Drive.

“If my son suddenly has an urgent need for health care, we have to rush to CHEO or to the other end of town for urgent care,” said Krista Eltaher, a new mother. “We can actually come here now in the community and you can get the help fast.”

"We have emergency trained physicians as well as family physicians and nurses that are able to carry out that care. We also have a range of diagnostic services,” said Catherine Van Vliet, Director of Patient Services.

“The patients feel better too because they feel reassured that they've been appropriately investigated and they did the quality of service that they were hoping to receive,” said Dr. Dan Sweet.

Officials say it’s important to know the differences between a hospital and an urgent care facility.

Eighty per cent of hospital emergency room visits are for more ordinary things like injuries needing a stitch or a broken bone.

The new Urgent Care Facility is opened from 8a.m. to 9p.m. Monday through Friday and 8a.m. to 3p.m. Saturdays.

With a report from CTV’s Norman Fetterley