As kids get ready to head back to school, some parents may be worried about the spread of COVID-19.
In response, Windsor Regional Hospital is opening a new clinic for children under the age of 17 who may be experiencing symptoms of the virus.
The Paediatric Urgent Medical Assessment Clinic or PUMA Clinic officially opens its doors on August 31 at the site of the former Met Campus COVID-19 Assessment Centre.
Chief Nursing Executive and Chief Operating Officer Karen Riddell says the goal is to keep kids out of the emergency department.
"The focus is on paediatric cases. So our hope is that with, potentially, the increased demand that we'll see with schools reopening that we can help divert some of that away from our emergency departments."
She says back to school could pose some problems.
"Certainly, we are expecting to see some cohorts dismissed with schools being back in session. So we want to make sure that the kids are tested and assessed quickly so we can keep things under control and keep everybody in school and keep people from getting a serious illness as much as possible."
Riddell says demand for youth testing has already increased.
"We have already seen an increase in paediatric testing even without schools being open. So we want to be able to handle that volume. One of the keys with testing is, obviously, to do it early so that we can identify cases early."
The PUMA Clinic will be open seven days a week from noon to 8pm — patients must book an appointment.
— with files from AM800's Patty Handysides