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Staffing shortages prompt closure of LifeLabs location in Thunder Bay, Ont., until October
One of three LifeLabs clinics in Thunder Bay, Ont., is closed until October due to staffing shortages.
The Port Arthur Health Centre posted on Facebook Aug. 9 that the LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services facility within its building would be closed through the end of September.
"Like many health-care providers across the country, we are experiencing staffing challenges. As a result, we have made the decision to temporarily close this location to ensure we can resume operations safely and effectively," a spokesperson for LifeLabs wrote in an email to CBC News on Friday.
"Our priority is to maintain the highest standards of care and safety for our patients."
The Port Arthur location is expected to reopen on Oct. 1, LifeLabs says.
The two remaining LifeLabs in the northwestern Ontario city are located at 1040 Oliver Rd., near Lakehead University, and 1265 Arthur St E., on the city's south side.
Dr. Sarah Newbery is a rural generalist family physician based in Marathon, as well as the associate dean of physician workforce strategy at Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) University.
In smaller communities in the region where there are no private lab clinics, such as Marathon, Manitouwadge and Terrace Bay, all lab testing is done through hospitals, she said.
"One of the challenges is that options can be limited, hours can sometimes be limited," Newbery said.
"On the plus side, because lab services are so crucial to the way in which hospitals function, keeping those lab services open is really important and I think provides a really helpful service for community-based lab access as well."
For those who are used to going to private clinics, having to go elsewhere may lead them to postpone their testing, she said.
"As soon as we ask people to travel for something, even if it's across town, even if it's just a simple taxi ride away, that puts up a small barrier for some people to being able to get those services," Newbery said.
"Any time we put up a barrier to accessing services, we run the risk that people won't actually be able to follow through on that and that their health and their health outcomes may be impacted by that."
Having as many medical services as possible under the same roof helps to eliminate those barriers, she said, and means people will be more likely to get testing done.
Any time we put up a barrier to accessing services, we run the risk that people won't actually be able to follow through on that and that their health and their health outcomes may be impacted by that.
While LifeLabs did not specify the nature of the staffing shortages in Thunder Bay, Newbery said there's been ongoing challenges with a lack of medical lab technicians across the region.
"I think the more that we can support the health human resources that we need to ensure the sustainability of services, the better off access to services in the north will be," she said.
"Looking at how we might incent people to be able to stay — particularly working in our hospital environments but in all of the lab facility environments in northern Ontario — feels important to those health human resources."
Her advice for those left scrambling is to consult with their physician or nurse practitioner about the urgency of their testing.
"Being clear about the expectation of timing, getting those tests done, is important — and then trying to work out where the nearest place that you can get that done in as convenient a way as possible is important," Newbery said.
