Kemptville wont have to close its ER department after all

ottawacitizen.com · Feb 19, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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Or sign-in if you have an account.Dr. Colin Sentongo, chief of staff at Kemptville District Hospital, which announced recently that it achieved its goal of hiring 10 new emergency physicians. Photo by KEMPTVILLE DISTRICT HOSPITAL /HANDOUTKemptville District Hospital was on the verge of having to close its emergency department in 2023 when The Ottawa Hospital stepped in to lend several helping hands.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Unlimited digital access to the Ottawa Citizen.Analysis on all things Ottawa by Bruce Deachman, Elizabeth Payne, David Pugliese, and others, award-winning newsletters and virtual events.Opportunity to engage with our commenting community.Ottawa Citizen ePaper.Ottawa Citizen App.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Elizabeth Payne, David Pugliese, Andrew Duffy, Bruce Deachman and others. Plus, food reviews and event listings in the weekly newsletter, Ottawa, Out of Office.Unlimited online access to Ottawa Citizen and 15 news sites with one account.Ottawa Citizen ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorThe Ottawa Hospital (TOH) and its emergency physician group began working with Kemptville’s emergency department to fill in staffing gaps and to ensure the emergency department could remain open at a time when many rural hospitals were being forced to temporarily close their emergency departments because of recurring staffing shortages.“We basically could not recruit enough emergency physicians to fill the roster of shifts that we needed,” said Dr. Colin Sentongo, chief of staff at Kemptville District Hospital.The Ottawa Citizen’s best journalism, delivered directly to your inbox by 7 p.m. on weekdays.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of The Evening Citizen will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againThe partnership with TOH, he said, was a game-changer for the 40-bed community hospital. But that partnership also had an end-date: March 31, 2026. And that meant the hospital had to recruit more emergency physicians — quickly.The hospital’s emergency department embarked on a “pretty active” recruitment campaign to fill emergency physician gaps at the hospital. “We didn’t want to find ourselves in the same place as we were two and a half years ago,” Sentongo said.The hospital announced recently that it achieved its goal, hiring 10 new emergency physicians.Sentongo called the mass recruitment an important step forward for the hospital.“It improves stability in our emergency department, supports our existing medical staff and helps ensure that residents of North Grenville and surrounding communities can continue to access high quality emergency care when they need it most.”Ten physicians is a remarkable number of new recruits given ongoing physician and other health worker shortages.Sentongo said having a new CT scanner made a difference in the hospital’s ability to recruit new physicians. He called it a “gold standard of care” and said it was a diagnostic tool physicians relied on for everything from abdominal pain to head trauma.Beyond the new equipment, he said many of the new recruits were physicians who were part of the partnership with TOH and decided they enjoyed working at the smaller hospital south of Ottawa.“During this partnership with The Ottawa Hospital, there were a lot of emergency physicians who hadn’t experienced community emergency work. All of a sudden they found themselves in a community hospital and a lot of them realized this is a pretty nice place to work,” he said.Emergency physicians act as independent contractors at public hospitals in Ontario rather than as direct employees. Many of them work at more than one hospital doing emergency department shifts.Dr. Tahereh Hosseini, chief of the Kemptville hospital’s emergency department, said the hospital would continue to recruit emergency physicians.The hospital currently has just under 30 emergency physicians, including those newly recruited. Some work full-time and some work part-time, Sentongo said. The emergency department is open 24/7 and serves about 20,000 people a year.Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Get the latest from Elizabeth Payne straight to your inbox Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.