Walk-In Clinics (Kitchener/Waterloo)

[Mischief007]

I looked in the phone book and nothing stared out at me telling me it is a walk in clinic. So I'm asking the K-W folks on here where a walk in clinic is and what their hours are.

[Bogie]

From a Google Search (took a bit of doing, but .... )
http://www.waterlooregion.org/basic/needs/

Urgent Care Clinics:

385 Fairway Rd. S.
Kitchener
748-2327

751 Victoria St.
Kitchener
745-2273

Walk-In Clinic:
The Doctor's Office
University Shops Plaza
170 University Avenue West
Waterloo
725-1514

The KW region is really lacking in medical walk-in clinics. The Barrie area, where I am, have at least 5 walk-ins and one of them is an Urgent Care and can treat fractures, heart attacks, etc.

[Mischief007]

I appreciated it Bogie. In London I know of at least 3 walk in clinics in south London area. I still have my family doctor in London but nothing up here.

Again thanks. Going first thing in the morning.

[Bogie]

When our daughter married and moved to Waterloo she really missed having the walk-in clinics handy. With two young boys there is always the need

The hospital emergency room waits can be a long time down there.

[Mischief007]

It has crossed my mind to go to a hospital but then I'd miss sleep like I did last night. Only got about 3 hours of sleep.

[Bogie]

It has crossed my mind to go to a hospital but then I'd miss sleep like I did last night. Only got about 3 hours of sleep.

And you could wait 6 hrs to be seen at the hospital. Our daughter has been that route. Faster to do the 2 hr drive to Barrie, go to a walk-in, get treated and drive back LOL

[Lesster]

There's a couple of good clinics that I know of:

Bogie listed 751 Victoria, that's at the corner of Westmount and Victoria, right behind Taco Bell (same plaza).

There's also one on University Ave. at the University Plaza, just west of Philip St., you turn into it just before the railroad tracks.

Go early, if you can.

[Mischief007]

I'm going to go to the one on Fairway Road since it is very close to my apartment. I live in the Fairview Mall area.

[Lesster]

Fairway Road hours: 8 am to 5 pm, 7 days a week.

[sybil]

It's not a great situation here, that's for sure. My husband has used the University Ave one for stitches - got on the list - the wait was about 4 hours, so he ran some errands and then went back when he was closer to the top of the list. I shudder when I think about what will happen if or when our need is more urgent.

[Mischief007]

Worst case scenario, I hop down to London.

Again it is 5:14 in the morning now and I can't sleep since midnight. Maybe got a couple of hours and that's it .

4 hours sybil?? What time did he arrive at the clinic?

[Mischief007]

Went to the clinic, saw 25 to 30 people waiting, hopped back in the car and was off to London. Went to the walk-in clinic where my family doctor is located and was diagnosed with Strep Throat .

This is pretty sad for the small amount of walk-in clinics in the K-W region. Definitely not good. And actually it is pretty sad that the government let this happen.

[Dr.Dan]

Yes, it is pretty bad that you had to drive an hour to London just to see a doctor...
But at least you have that option... some don't even have that

[Mischief007]

Yes, it is pretty bad that you had to drive an hour to London just to see a doctor...
But at least you have that option... some don't even have that

I'm shocked now that in this area if you need urgent care, you gotta wait big time...sucks.

[Dr.Dan]

I don't know if you know or not, but the london hospitals ER's are always a looooong wait... and longer if they're busy!!

Seems 'urgent care' is waiting 2 to 5 hours...

[sybil]

I think he went early afternoon. He still goes to his doctor in Toronto, and I don't have one here yet either. Pretty bad when you're forced to use a walk-in clinic as a family doctor, or drive an hour plus for checkups.

[Mischief007]

Dr. Dan
I know about London's ER. My sister waited 6 hours at Victoria and she had a massive migraine.

sybil
Ontario is in a very poor situation right now with doctors. That's one thing I didn't see in the Budget this year. This is also why I kept my doctor from London. I'm holding onto him until it gets to the point that it will take to long to travel to get to him.

Not much we can do unless we feel like a career change.

[Bogie]

The only immediate solution is more Walk-in clinics and more Urgent Care clinics. Going to be a long time until we see new doctors. Even the gov'ts streamlining plan to speed-up foreign doctors license approvals is a farce. Gov't double talk so far.

We are fortunate to have a family doctor, and again fortunate to have so many walk-in clinics in our area.

I had to use our hospital ER recently, on a weekend, and the experience was not a good one as far as waiting goes. They are simply swamped - doctors and nurses running, just like watching a TV ER program during a disaster - and the disaster is simply too many people seeking help and not enough resources to handle. Hallways and lunchrooms turned into ER spaces.

One thing that does not help are people who do not need to go to ER and should have gone to a walk-in clinic. Flu bugs, coughs, colds, and other minor issues are NOT for ER at hospitals. They would even get faster service at a clinic.

When I had to go to Waterloo's Grand River ER a few months ago, there was only 1 doctor on call .... he was good, but his workload was mountainous. I was lucky, as my wait to get seen, that day, was only 15 mins (I had called Ontario Health first and they fax the hospital that you are coming on their recommendation). In and out in 2.5 hrs.

I applaud our doctors and nurses, and give a failing grade to our politicians.

[Mischief007]

Very well put Bogie. I agree completely. Doctors and Nurses are overworked these days thanks to cost cutting.

[kitchenersoccer15]

This sort of might be off topic, but I don't have a family doctor and I would like to get a physical exam because I have noticed some lump in my chest, but I don't know where to go, so I wondering if walk-in clinics are the right places to go for those kinds of things. If not, information on where alse to go in Kitchener/Waterloo region would be helpfull as well.

[Thaiwoo]

You should really look into finding a doctor. Walk in clinics are ok for a quick "fix" but there's usually no follow up with the same doctor.

Do a search here. That's how we found our doctor after being without one for many years.

http://www.cpso.on.ca/Doctor_Search/dr_srch_hm.htm

[sybil]

Easier said than done, Thaiwoo, in the KW area. The area is severely underserviced - something in the range of 50,000 unable to find a family doctor.

As far as getting a physical, a walk in clinic may be the only option. If nothing else, they may be able to give you some leads as to where to go.

[Thaiwoo]

Easier said than done, Thaiwoo, in the KW area. The area is severely underserviced - something in the range of 50,000 unable to find a family doctor.

As far as getting a physical, a walk in clinic may be the only option. If nothing else, they may be able to give you some leads as to where to go.

Nobody said it was going to be easy. It took us several years to find a doctor somewhat close to where we live.

We have tons of walk in clinics in our area and it seems to be a new trend. It's convenient in some ways but you're missing out on longterm care.

[Lesster]

The hospitals sometimes have a list of doctors who are accepting new patients. Often the list is available in the emergency dept. at the desk where they "register" you for the visit. If you call the hospital they may be able to tell you where to get such a list.

Sometimes the "list" is just a few little notes taped to something near a desk. Usually there's little business card sized pieces of paper bearing the doctor's phone number for you to take, but you should take a pen & paper with you.

[reiver]

We have tons of walk in clinics in our area and it seems to be a new trend.

Where have you been for the last 15 years?

[reiver]

The hospitals sometimes have a list of doctors who are accepting new patients. Often the list is available in the emergency dept. at the desk where they "register" you for the visit. If you call the hospital they may be able to tell you where to get such a list.

Sometimes the "list" is just a few little notes taped to something near a desk. Usually there's little business card sized pieces of paper bearing the doctor's phone number for you to take, but you should take a pen & paper with you.

Grand River Hospital (K-W) has signs all over the ER stating they do not have a list of doctors, and basically, do not ask.

[Bogie]

Some areas are fortunate to have plenty of walk-in clinics and other areas are almost totally without.

Here, in Barrie, we are one of the fortunate areas. Our daughter and her family live in Waterloo and she can see a doctor faster by driving to Barrie and waiting at one of our clinics. We even have an emergency clinic (can even set fractures, etc.) which is an extension of the hospital emerg (other end of town). Now, I didn't say there wasn't any wait to see a doctor, but the wait is usually about 1/2 hour (sometimes less) to a couple of hours ... depends on the day (there are days with long waits). We are fortunate to have a family doctor but have had to use the clinics many times over the years.

BUT, don't go to our Hospital emerg unless you like sitting around for at least 7 hours or so. We have all these walk-in clinics around town and people still go to the hospital emerg for minor ailments. Those people are the 'cause and affect' of emerg backlog.

Waterloo/Kitchener is in real bad need of walk-in clinics. An area rich in financial services corporate head offices, home of RIM, and rich in Ontario history, should not be lacking such services.

[Thaiwoo]

Where have you been for the last 15 years?

Some of them I've been out of the country. I remember when I first came to Canada, they had the odd walk in clinic in the Durham Region.

In the last 5 - 6 years tons of them have popped up in our area. Especially with the new Superstores. I signed up for an interview for a doctor at the Superstore in Ajax but was out of the country when I had the date. So of course I couldn't reschedule and somebody else got my spot. I went there several times as a walk in.

Later on we found this new walk clinic in Whitby and when I first went in there, several faces looked familiar. Turns out it was some of the people who started out the clinic in the Ajax Superstore. Last time I was in there they were all gone and I'll bet you they opened up another clinic somewhere else and then sell it or lease it. Wouldn't surprise me.

As I said, I think this is a new trend, doctors don't want the full time patients anymore. They rather have people come in, they help if they can, bill OHIP and then hope to never see you again.

I went back to the same clinic several times and never was able to see the previous doctor again. I think they do that on purpose.

[Thaiwoo]

BUT, don't go to our Hospital emerg unless you like sitting around for at least 7 hours or so. We have all these walk-in clinics around town and people still go to the hospital emerg for minor ailments. Those people are the 'cause and affect' of emerg backlog.

I agree, I really think they should do it like in the States. Charge a $50 fee for a hospital emergency visit. If you get admitted you get it refunded, if not you should have just gone to a walk in / urgent care clinic.

Even if the fee was only $10 or so, it would deter some people from going to emerg.

[T_Totler]

...doctors don't want the full time patients anymore. They rather have people come in, they help if they can, bill OHIP and then hope to never see you again.

Where's Marcus Welby when you need him?