Residents call for 2 Niagara urgent care centres to be reopened overnight

Residents and advocates are calling for Niagara Health to restore 24/7 urgent care services in Port Colborne and Fort Erie after the hours of operation were cut down in July due to staffing shortages.

A petition signed by more than four thousand residents was given to MPP Wayne Gates Tuesday that will be presented in the Ontario legislature next week.

“It’s a life and death situation many times in the winter, we can’t get out onto the highway because of the snowbelt that we’re in and dare I say without our urgent care at that particular time it really is life and death.” says Heather Kellui.

Attendees at a rally Tuesday say nearly half of the residents in the area don’t have a regular family doctor as an alternative, leaving limited options for many seniors especially in the case of winter storms shutting down transportation.

WATCH MORE: Overnight closures of 2 Niagara Urgent Care Centres face backlash

“You either go to Niagara falls or you go to maybe Welland but the emergent surgeries aren’t working but you can go to the urgent care there.” says Sue Hotte.

Earlier this year Niagara Health announced urgent care centres in Port Colborne and Fort Erie would permanently shorten their hours to close overnight in order to redeploy staff across the region.

In a statement made Tuesday, Niagara Health said it continues to struggle with a shortage of health human resources, including emergency trained physicians and that at this time, it has no plans to revisit the hours at urgent care centres.

Despite this, residents and advocates say the fight isn’t over and they will continue to call for operations to be restored.

READ MORE: Urgent care centres in Fort Erie, Port Colborne to close overnight