Inside a bright yellow recreation centre at the University of Alberta, a new COVID-19 triage facility is allowing doctors to safely see people with flu symptoms that have been deemed worrisome by the province's telephone health assessors.

The assessment and treatment centre in the Universiade Pavilion, commonly known as the Butterdome, opened Wednesday, a soft-launch that quickly demonstrated the need for the service, according to the Edmonton doctor who helped create it.

"Ramping up is necessary, that there is a real need out there for this resource because Health Link is finding us patients," Dr. Dominic Cave told CBC Radio's Edmonton AM on Thursday.

The centre, located in the gymnasium area of the Butterdome at 87th Avenue and 114th Street, is open 16 hours a day It is set up so a doctor on duty can see about 60 patients per day, with patient appointments scheduled at 15-minute intervals.

The Universiade Pavilion, also known as the Butterdome, at the University of Alberta. (Google Maps)

For the first day of operations, "we took referrals from the night before from Health Link and ... by first thing in the morning, we had about three-quarters of our appointments for the day already booked," he said.

The remaining appointments were filled by Health Link through the course of the day, he said.

Keep people away from the ER

Cave said the idea for the facility was inspired by big clinics set up in Canadian cities more than a decade ago to deal with the H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Operating on referrals made by 811 Health Link medical staff, people are seen by a nurse, then can be sent to see the on-site physician if symptoms warrant.

The assessment centre is set up in a small part of the Butterdome's gymnasium, to the side of the indoor track. (Supplied by Alberta Health Services)

Cave said the doctor can keep the person on site for up to four hours, treated with oxygen or intravenous fluids if needed, to monitor symptoms before determining whether the person is well enough to go home or if hospitalization is required.

"Going forward, as this epidemic progresses, we may find that this is a resource we need more," he said.

"If people don't go to their family doctor, the general place they end up having to go to is the emergency department, and we really don't want them there … both for their safety, because it's not a great place to be, but also for the sake of the system.

"We don't need to be overloading those environments if we have an alternative."

Not a walk-in clinic

Cave stressed that this is not a walk-in clinic, noting the careful spacing of appointments is meant to protect patients by maintaining physical distance between them.

"If you show up on our door, we may not turn you away," Cave said. "But what we're most likely to do is say, 'Here. Call 811, let's find out if you need to be here.'"

Currently, the facility's assessment area can see about 10 people at a time, plus there is a holding area that can hold another 10.

The triage area can safely hold about 40 to 50 people, he said.

The centre is not a walk-in clinic. Patients are sent there after being referred by the 811 Health Link line. (Supplied by Alberta Health Services)

Cave said it was built with the expectation of being scalable — that is, by adding another doctor on duty, the centre can double the number of people it sees in a day.

On Monday, the centre will review how things went through the weekend and make decisions on what is needed for operating hours and staffing .

"The nice thing is we have an organization, in Health Link, that is able to direct us and give us guidance about how many patients they need us to see," he said.

"We have, as I say, the ability to scale up. And we'll work from there."