A new urgent care centre is opening in East Vancouver

East Vancouver residents will soon have better access to team-based urgent and primary care, thanks to the opening of the new REACH Urgent and Primary Care Centre (UPCC), the provincial government announced on Wednesday.

See also

• Ebola outbreak in Congo is an 'emergency of international concern': WHO
• These are the 20 best hospitals in Canada: report
• Sleep aid recalled across Canada as it may pose 'serious health risks'

“The Reach centre will help connect more people in East Vancouver and the surrounding communities with the health care they need, when they need it,” said BC Premier John Horgan said in a statement.

The REACH Urgent and Primary Care Centre is the second UPCC to be announced in Vancouver and the ninth to be announced in BC under the government’s primary care strategy.

“Reach is among the most established community health centres in the province, supporting East Vancouver residents for 50 years,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix.

The new UPCC is a partnership between the REACH Community Health Centre, the Ministry of Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, Providence Health and the Vancouver Division of Family Practice.

Six said that through this partnership, “tens of thousands of area residents who currently lack a primary care provider will benefit from increased access to same-day and ongoing primary care.”

The centre will provide care for over 37,000 additional patients annually, and will serve two purposes: The first will be to provide care for people with non-life-threatening conditions who need to see a health-care provider within 12 to 24 hours, but do not require an emergency department. The second will be to help attach patients to a regular primary care provider, by attaching patients to health-care providers at Reach.

The centre will be staffed to provide some urgent primary care services as of early August 2019, and will be fully operational and welcoming patients in its newly renovated space by October 2019.

Once fully operational, it will be open seven days a week, 365 days per year; Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm, and on Sundays and statutory holidays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In the meantime, the centre will operate temporarily out of an existing space within the REACH Community Health Centre, then transition permanently to a new renovated space in the same building.

The clinic will be centrally located at 1145 Commercial Drive.