We, the Misericordia Urgent Care physicians, are extremely concerned about the closure
of the Misericordia Urgent Care Centre and the huge impact this will have on the
community we serve. As physicians we feel we need to advocate for this vulnerable
population who have complex chronic health, social and mental health needs.
Misericordia Urgent Care serves, in large part, a downtown core population. We care for
approximately 39000 patients per annum. Of that number, approximately 11000 visits
are from people who live in the downtown and the Point Douglas neighbourhoods. These
communities are comprised of many of our city’s impoverished, marginalized, and
disenfranchised; people who have little voice in the political decision making process
and, therefore, whose needs can be and frequently are overlooked. We believe this to be
the situation in the decision to close Misericordia Urgent Care. Many who live in the
community around Misericordia do not own personal transportation and cannot afford to
hire a taxi for the ride to seek medical care in the periphery of Winnipeg. In fact many
even struggle with finding resources to purchase bus tickets and, therefore, many make
their way on foot to access health care at Misericordia. With the closure of our Urgent
Care Centre, the alternative will be that many will need to walk to Health Sciences Centre
or St. Boniface, call for an ambulance or not seek care at all. Closing Misericordia
Urgent Care, taking away access to non-emergent 24-hour care in the core of the city, will
only serve to cost the system more and increase the wait times at the already struggling
ERs. The conclusion cannot be denied that the closure of Misericordia will be a huge loss
for some of the most needy of Winnipeg’s population and as a physician team we are
concerned about the equitable access to health care for our vulnerable patients.
Misericordia Urgent Care has a long history of effective and responsible health care in
our community. In addition to Urgent Care medical attention, we offer triage services
for the Winnipeg Ophthalmology Centre of Excellence, save many ambulance/stretcher
service rides to outlying ERs for the long term residents at Misericordia Place as well as
provide regular medical clearance exams for the Winnipeg Police Service prior to
arrestees being transported into formal custody. Urgent Care medical teams also provide
emergency care in life threatening situations to both the Personal Care Home and the
Ophthalmology service housed within the Misericordia facility. It is noteworthy, that we
consistently have the highest patient satisfaction ratings in our city as well as consistently
operate under budget. In many ways we function as an Emergency Centre for our city, at
approximately 50% of the financial outlay that a full Emergency Centre requires.
Given the above facts it is difficult to understand the rationale for the decision to close
Misericordia Urgent Care. In our opinion, there is certainly no patient care justification
for this closure. Even from a cost savings perspective the closure of Misericordia Urgent
Care is indefensible. A full 80% of Misericordia’s budget is made up of labour costs.
Both the government and the WRHA are on record stating that there will not be a loss of
front line care positions in the proposed restructuring process, leaving only 20% of the
annual operating budget for potential savings. It is impossible to leave a well functioning
facility and create new infrastructure for an urgent care centre within the 20% budget
remaining to accomplish the stated goal of resource saving. We ask, where is the cost
savings if indeed there will be no job losses? Again, we question the logic of closing a

 facility that has been fiscally responsible and upon which the two other proposed urgent
care centres will be modeled.
As the Misericordia physician team we advise strongly that the decision to close
Misericordia Urgent Care be reconsidered and reversed. This closure decision does not
in any way serve the community immediately surrounding our facility, it penalizes a
centre that consistently operates at an exceedingly high level of efficiency and patient
satisfaction and ultimately, if labour costs are retained as promised, it offers no cost
savings to our medical system.
The Misericordia Physician Team
Dr. Cal Bergen
Dr. George Borrett
Dr. Jennifer Campbell
Dr. Hermano Da Silva
Dr. Paul Doucet
Dr. James Edye-Rowntree
Dr. Julian Joshua
Dr. Paeta Lehn
Dr. Leslie McIntosh
Dr. Iris McKeown
Dr. John Neufeld
Dr. Sheila Peters
Dr. Gilles Pinette
Dr. Larry Rados
Dr. Larry Reynolds
Dr. Tim Ross
Dr. Ron Scrapneck
Dr. Kristian Sethi
Dr. Don Simonson
Dr. Grant Stefanyshen
Dr. Ritchie Strachan
Dr. Marcello Venditti
Dr. Arlene Walker