Pelee Island has found a permanent solution to its health care dilemma.

The Windsor-Essex chapter of the Victorian Order of Nurses has been chosen as the permanent health care provider to staff the Pelee Island nursing station and its 24/7 on-call nursing service.

The Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network made the announcement on Friday on the island. The nursing station will be open on weekdays from 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. (with a slightly different schedule possible on Wednesdays), 365 days a year. When the clinic is closed, nurses will be on-call, working in conjunction with paramedics.

Pelee Island found itself in a health care conundrum last summer when its full-time nurse, Marlene Pierce, retired. The LHIN established a task force to determine how to best serve the island. While it has a small population, questions remained about whether a nursing station was an adequate service for the island.

In the interim, the island had a hodgepodge of health care providers. The first was a combination of Leamington District Memorial Hospital staff who operated the clinic during the day while Pierce was lured out of retirement for a few months to provide after-hours care. After that, the Harrow Family Health Team stepped in to provide staff for the nursing station during daytime hours. The VON was brought on in January this year for a test-phase in which nurses worked on rotation to provide 24/7 care.

After an application process, the VON was selected to keep running the nursing station.

Andrew Ward, executive director for the Erie St. Clair VON, said that along with a team of three nurses working on rotation, two Windsor-based physicians, Dr. Albert Ng and Dr. Wayne Chan, will consult with the nurses by phone. As well, the nursing station is connected to the Ontario telemedicine network.

"It really widens the access to the residents of Pelee Island," Ward said.

He said in the evenings when the clinic is closed, residents who require care should call 911 and paramedics will determine whether to call in the nurse or take the patient to hospital on the mainland.

Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

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Health care on Pelee Island to be provided by VON