This is an opinion column was written by Lynn Guerriero, President and CEO and Dr. Jennifer Robert, Chief of Primary Care. It was originally published in the St. Catharines Standard, Welland Tribune and Niagara Falls Review.
As Niagara Health builds a truly modern hospital system to meet the needs of residents today and tomorrow, we respect the concerns of Fort Erie residents regarding the planned closure of the Urgent Care Centre (UCC) in 2028. These concerns highlight the community’s deep commitment to ensuring local access to healthcare, a commitment Niagara Health shares.
While one door will soon close, another will open with the new $3.6-billion South Niagara Hospital. Just 25 minutes away, it will offer modern facilities, significantly expanded capacity and specialized services, including a Wellness in Aging Centre of Excellence tailored to meet the needs of our growing and aging population.
Our transformed, three-site hospital system will provide advanced care to more people, including those in Fort Erie, and represents a transformative and positive step forward in how hospital care is delivered and sustained in our region.
At the same time, it is critical community leaders come together to focus our collective energy on building a strong foundation of primary care, which means access to a family doctor, nurse practitioner and their teams, in Fort Erie. As we move toward the future, we believe the best use of time and energy would be focused on closing the primary care gap to help improve the health of the community.
Addressing the shortage of primary care providers in Fort Erie has been a significant focus for Niagara Health and our healthcare partners. Access to primary care means having a long-standing relationship with a family doctor, nurse practitioner and other members of a healthcare team, such as dietitians, physiotherapists, psychologists and others, who are available for patients when and where they need care, including after-hours care.
Over the past several years, our leadership team has worked closely with the Town of Fort Erie and the Niagara Ontario Health Team - Équipe Santé Ontario Niagara to develop solutions that expand access to care. We have supported a submission to Ontario Health by local physicians that outlines a sustainable primary care model to meet the community’s needs. We’ve also collaborated with the Town on family physician recruitment efforts and advocated for expanded diagnostic imaging services in Fort Erie, recognizing how vital these services are to local residents.
Additionally, Niagara Health has partnered with local physicians to develop team-based care models that can better serve residents while addressing the physician shortage. We are deeply committed to continuing these efforts and working alongside the community to close the primary care gap.
We are committed to helping Fort Erie achieve success. Over the past several years, our leadership has been deeply engaged in dozens of meetings with the mayor, municipal administration and the healthcare committee to provide updates, answer questions and collaboratively address concerns. Recognizing we are transitioning services that residents have relied upon, we have made transparency and accessibility a priority. Our leadership team and board of directors are committed to keeping the community informed and remain open to helping in any way possible as we move forward.
We are confident if we can work together to strengthen access to family physicians, nurse practitioners and team-based services in Fort Erie, while also building a truly modern hospital system with the exciting South Niagara Hospital only three years away, a more thorough and connected model of care is just around the corner for Fort Erie.
