Update on services in Eastern Zone following winter storm

As weather and road conditions begin to improve in Eastern Zone (Cape Breton Island, Antigonish and Guysborough counties), Nova Scotia Health is providing the following service status update for the remainder of today: 

• Outpatient lab (blood) collections at all Eastern Zone sites are cancelled for the remainder of the day. Patients are being contacted to reschedule their appointments. Lab services are providing emergency/urgent and inpatient services only today.

• Diagnostic imaging services at New Waterford Consolidated Hospital are cancelled for the day. These services include x-ray, ultrasound, and ECG/EKG. Patients are being contacted to reschedule their appointments.

• The Primary Health Care Clinic scheduled for tonight in the Ambulatory Care department at Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney is cancelled.  

• The emergency department at Guysborough Memorial Hospital will be closed from 6 p.m. until 7 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15. Anyone with urgent medical needs should call 911.

Most services are proceeding with clinics/appointments. People are asked to call ahead to the service to see if their clinic/appointment is proceeding as scheduled. Some services may be offering virtual care/appointments and will connect with clients directly.

Patients are asked to consider the nature of their booked appointments and whether any non-urgent appointments can be rescheduled. Please do not attempt to travel to a scheduled care appointment if it is unsafe for you to do so.

It is expected that all clinics, services, and programs at sites in Eastern Zone will be operating as scheduled on Thursday, Feb. 15.