Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Tony Wakeham (MHA, Stephenville – Port au Port) says the town of Conception Bay South – the second largest and fastest growing town in the province – should have its own dedicated 24/7 urgent care centre.
Unfortunately, Wakeham said, it appears that the catchment area for the 24/7 urgent care centre designated for the metro region will barely even reach Mount Pearl or Paradise and won’t even come close to the communities that form the expansive municipality of CBS.
“The people of the huge and growing town of CBS should have ready access to a local 24/7 urgent care centre that is based right there, in the municipality,” said Wakeham.
“It’s not just that the metro region is a significant distance from CBS, but the population base of the Northeast Avalon is certainly large enough to warrant an additional 24/7 urgent care centre, and the logical place to situate the second centre is in the second largest municipality in the region,” he said.
“Urgent care is care that is needed with minimal delay. If minimizing risks and improving outcomes is the objective – as it must be – then locating 24/7 urgent care centres in the middle of major population centres just makes sense,” he said.
“The people of our second-largest municipality should not have to settle for second-class urgent care coverage,” said Wakeham. “This is the opportunity to get things right, and not have to make adjustments years down the road after needless tragic lessons have been learned.”
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