A new partnership will provide those in the county suffering from mental illness access to a psychiatrist close to home.
Leamington District Memorial Hospital has teamed up with Windsor Regional Hospital, and the Leamington & Area Family Health Team. The plan includes relocating the practice of psychiatrist Dr Rachel Burdett to the outpatient area of Leamington's hospital, in the Neighbourhood of Care.
Starting July 4, the partnership is expected to improve consultation between care providers, and ensure timely referrals to services on-site.
That access is something that's sorely missing in the county, says Chief Nursing Executive Cheryl Deter.
"We have a community that has great difficulty with transportation," she says. "There's no bus -- to have miss a whole day of work to get up to Windsor; here, there able to access the service locally."
She says piece by piece, health officials in the county are fighting to improve care for their patients.
"Scarcity breeds innovation so; we're doing every thing we can. We're speaking loudly, and boldly that we want our fair share of care locally."
Deter says the hospital has asked for information detailing how many patients in the county require access to a psychiatrist, but so far those numbers haven't been available to officials. However, she says it's clear by the number of referrals and people coming in the door that the service is badly needed.