For Immediate Release:
January 13, 2007

Contact:
The communication consultant on-call
Corporate Communications & Public Relations, LHSC
519-685-8500

London’s Emergency Departments extraordinarily busy

Patients facing long waits

(LONDON, Ontario) - London Health Sciences Centre’s (LHSC) Emergency Departments, at both University and Victoria hospitals, are experiencing high levels of patient activity.

Our first priority is the health and well being of our patients and we will continue to maintain high quality patient care under these circumstances. It is also our priority that the most critically ill are seen in a timely manner.

For non-life threatening emergencies we ask you to consider the following options:

• contact your family doctor or a walk-in clinic for flu or flu-like symptoms;
• go to St. Joseph’s Hospital Urgent Care Clinic Centre for treatment of non life-threatening illnesses and injuries such as scrapes, cuts, sprains, simple fractures or broken bones, earaches, fevers, coughs and colds. The Urgent Care Centre is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week;
• for health advice and general information 24 hours a day, seven days a week contact Telehealth Ontario 1-866-797-0000; and,
• if you must come into the Emergency Department for treatment be prepared for longer waits and please bring only one additional individual with you if necessary.

If you have a medical emergency phone 911 or got to your nearest Emergency Department.