Not all patients will be sent to the ER once a new mega-hospital is built in Windsor-Essex.

Instead, an urgent care centre will be constructed off-site for less serious medical emergencies to alleviate wait times at the region’s only ER.

Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj says this concept has proven itself in other communities. “Those centres that have them, it basically cuts the wait times in half because they’re able to focus on the less acute patients,” says Musyj. “When a very acute patient comes into a hospital emergency department, staff have to respond and it’s all hands on deck.”

How will the public know which facility they should go to for care? “With very good communication they figure it out. People generally know when they need something if they’re really sick and they are probably going to need hospitalization,” says Musyj. “But even if for some reason a patient doesn’t recognize that and goes into the urgent care centre they are immediately transported by EMS over to the hospital.”

Musyj says a location for the new mega-hospital should be announced in July with a completion date as early as 2024. He says the hospital and urgent care centre will both be strategically located to serve all of Windsor-Essex.