THP Emergency Departments
and Community Care Options

Your Local Emergency Departments are Very Busy

We are seeing a significant increase in the number of patients visiting our Emergency Departments, which is resulting in longer than usual wait times. If you have a health concern that is not an emergency, there are a number of community options available to care for you.

Visiting the ED

Locations, hours, what to bring with you, and what to know

Community Health Care Options

Non-emergency options for care

Fever & Cough Resources for Parents

Managing fevers, coughs, and congestion in children and infants

Safe and Respectful Space

Ensuring a safe space for patients and care teams

Staying Healthy this Season

How to stay healthy and prevent spread

Community Health Care Options

If you do not require emergency care, there are options available to you within the community, based on your needs. Below you will find resources that may be a better option than the hospital’s ED.

Walk-in clinics and Urgent Care Centres are valuable options for those who do not have a family doctor, cannot get an appointment with their family doctor, or require non-emergency care during off-hours, including evenings and weekends. For hours and locations of walk-in clinics near you, please click here.

For the 2023/24 cough, cold and flu season, a temporary paediatric clinic has opened at the Summerville Family Health Team. The Mississauga Pediatric Care Clinic is available to children aged 6-months-old to 17-years-old who do not have a family physician, or their family physician does not have an after hours on-call clinic to assist you/your child with certain non-urgent care needs (e.g. Cough, cold and flu symptoms).

For more information including hours of service, please visit www.summervillefht.com.

To book an appointment call 905-272-9900 extension 240 or visit https://patient.medeohealth.com/booking/moht-pediatric-care-clinic.

Some doctor’s offices offer extended or weekend hours. Check in with yours to see what they offer and how they can best care for you and your family.

Formerly Telehealth Ontario, Health Connect Ontario is a tool that allows Ontarians to call or chat online with a registered nurse for health care advice or for information on how to find a family doctor. The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling 811 or visiting Health Connect Ontario | Health Connect Ontario (gov.on.ca).

Paxlovid:
Did you know? Your local hospital is still admitting patients due to severe cases of COVID-19. Over the past couple months, approximately 30 people have been admitted to the hospital each day, with the average age being 80-years-old. COVID-19 is still a risk to our most vulnerable community members. If you test positive for the virus, pharmacists are now able to prescribe the anti-viral medication Paxlovid, which may reduce severe illness. Studies show this could be by 89% if you have not been vaccinated for COVID-19. Speak to your pharmacist to see if Paxlovid is right for you. Click here for more information on Paxlovid prescriptions.

Common Ailments:
New this year, you skip the doctor’s office visit and go straight to a local pharmacy to receive prescriptions for 13 common ailments with just your health card at no extra cost to you. Pharmacists are noe able to offer prescriptions for:

  • hay fever (allergic rhinitis);
  • oral thrush (candidal stomatitis);
  • pink eye (conjunctivitis; bacterial, allergic and viral);
  • dermatitis (atopic, eczema, allergic and contact);
  • menstrual cramps (dysmenorrhea);
  • acid reflux (gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD));
  • hemorrhoids;
  • cold sores (herpes labialis);
  • impetigo;
  • insect bites and hives;
  • tick bites (post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent Lyme disease);
  • sprains and strains (musculoskeletal); and
  • urinary tract infections (UTIs)

To learn more, see Local Pharmacies Now a One-Stop-Shop for Thirteen Common Ailments - Ontario News Release.

The Ontario Poison Centre (OPC) is a telephone toxicology consultation service providing expert poison advice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to the public and health-care providers by calling 1-800-268-9017.

The Canadian Mental Health Association offers both phone and virtual support for a variety of concerns for all ages including anxiety, suicidal ideations (thoughts), sexual assault, abuse, addiction and more. A full list of supports and contact information can be found here.

Adults in Ontario with depression, anxiety and anxiety-related conditions can access free, short-term, evidence-based cognitive-behavioural and related services through the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program.