Updated: Tue Nov. 03 2009 18:14:29

ctvottawa.ca

Ottawa will open six flu assessment centres in the city's community health clinics starting on Wednesday, forcing patients who use those clinics to reschedule their appointments.

Although doctors at the community health centres will continue seeing patients with reduced hours, the city is warning that some appointments may be cancelled.

The flu centres will be designated for people exhibiting flu-like symptoms who need non-urgent medical care. The H1N1 vaccine will not be offered at these locations.

"We will assess the severity of symptoms, determine course of treatment on a case-by-case basis, and where appropriate refer to other services such as hospital emergency departments," said Jack McCarthy of the Somerset West Community Health Centre.

Flu centres will be open seven days per week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends. They will be available at the following locations:

• Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, 221 Nelson St.
• Somerset West Community Health Centre, 55 Eccles St.
• Centretown Community Health Centre, 420 Cooper St.
• Dempsey Community Health Centre, 1895 Russell Rd.
• Carlington Community Health Centre, 900 Merivale Road
• Pinecrest Queensway Community Health Centre, 1365 Richmond Rd.

Health agencies serving First Nations, Inuit and Metis populations will also provide flu assessments for those target groups.

Public health officials hope the flu centres will help alleviate pressure on emergency departments across the city.

Although Ottawa's supply of H1N1 vaccine is dwindling, city officials are hoping to get a small shipment of the vaccine later this week.

Meantime, health officials in Ottawa are continuing to focus on vaccinating high-risk groups, assuring everyone else that they will be able to get the H1N1 vaccine before Christmas.

Many clinics in the capital were running full or near capacity by late Tuesday morning. It's expected that 100,000 Ottawa residents will have received the H1N1 vaccine by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, city officials are urging residents to help speed up the process by downloading and filling out three vaccine forms before attending the clinics.

• Download your flu vaccine forms now!

In Gatineau, there were short lines at the flu clinic at Promenade de l'Outaouais late Tuesday morning.

Health officials there were handing out tickets to priority groups who lined up to get access to the vaccine. The method is similar to the one that was being used in Ottawa prior to adopting the wristband system.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Vanessa Lee  

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Please Add Comments(4)

GS
Can you imagine if this was a true pandemic what we would look like. WE have to learn from this in case a worst situation really happens. Again the City shows how disorganized they are and how their planning skill lack. Better late than never I suppose. First the floods in Kanata now the Flu shots in Ottawa. Pretty sad.

Jt
Gs
Keep in mind this is not a ottawa thing and not all of ottawa's fault.Could thing have been better yes but my concern is just ottawa but the prov and feds.Things all around while have been ok but could be alot better.

Christine Douaire
What if this flu is a form of warfare. Ben Ladin did say months ago that he would do some form of terrorism on Canada and that we would not know ,when or what would hit us. Chemical warfare has been used in the past, so what's to say that this is not what's happening now, not just in Canada but also in other parts of the world. Do they have an outbreak of the swine flu in Afganistan?

Tim Madison
The first part of the title "Ottawa to open flu centres to asses" seems to indicate a change in the priority-based strategy. I might even qualify, myself!