Terry Hutchinson speaks at the Crescent View Clinic grand opening December 18

Need medical attention over the holidays but it's not an "emergency"?  For the first time in Moose Jaw, a medical clinic will be open for Christmas. 

Crescent View clinic opened earlier this year, with an expressed goal of alleviating the burden on the Union hospital emergency room for cases that may not be dire in nature. 

"We have a scoring system, where people are triaged in ER (at the Union hospital) in terms of their level of need," says Terry Hutchinson, VP of community health services with the Five Hills Health Region. "What we find is a lot of them are triaged at a lower level of need, which could be serviced in a clinic like Crescent View."

The Crescent View Clinic is open seven days a week, and will be open Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day from 10am-6pm.  Hutchinson says the clinic isn't substitute for the emergency room if you need critical care.

"If you might be having a heart attack or stroke, those are ER things," Hutchinson reminds us.  "If children are running a fever, they have an ear ache, they need to be assessed for potential antibiotics, whatever you would go to  your family doctor for, you would come here (Crescent View) for."