Peterborough Regional Health Centre reports the recent intake of COVID-19 patients from other areas has not created any capacity issues.
According to Dr. Lynn Mikula, the hospital’s chief medical executive and chief of staff, as of Wednesday morning there were 17 inpatients with COVID-19 — 11 of whom were transferred from the Greater Toronto Area.
And Mikula says the acceptance routine — with our without COVID-19 — will continue. The hospital has capacity for 28 intensive care unit beds and has identified more than two dozen additional spaces. The Evinrude Centre could also be used as a secondary site.
“If we can help other regions and other hospitals care for people who need care and we have the capacity to do so, then we’ll do so,” she said during a media conference. “We’ll meet that need.”
However, she stressed the new inpatients won’t impact care for Peterborough-area residents.
“If it gets to a point where we do not feel we can meet the needs of our community, then we will say we can no longer accept patients from other regions,” she said.
She said the hospital has “been busy” but there is still capacity in its surge patient plan.
“We’re confident we can keep you safe if you need us,” she said.
An outbreak remains in effect at the hospital after a patient in the A2/B2 (stroke rehab unit) tested positive for COVID-19. No staff have tested positive, Mikula noted.
“We’re working with public health to determine the modes of transmission and to try to understand how this has all evolved,” she said. “Right now it’s not entirely possible to say entirely what the source of the outbreak was.”
The hospital on Monday received its first shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Fairhaven long-term care residents in Peterborough were the first to be vaccinated.
Mikula is hopeful all residents will consent to receiving the vaccine.
- Wegovy now in Canada: Who should (and shouldn’t) use the weight-loss drug
- N.B. woman must move to Toronto for life-saving lung transplant. She can’t afford to go
- Amid bird flu spread, Canada boosts surveillance and testing at border
- Abortion is set to be a key U.S. election issue. Which side has momentum?
“What we hope for within the
long-term care facilities is that there will be sufficient number of people who accept the vaccine to achieve herd immunity within that facility so that there won’t be a chain of transmission that can take off,” she said.
Hospital and Peterborough Public Health staff are also working to establish a vaccination clinic at the hospital, but it won’t be the only vaccination clinic in the city.
“There will be mass immunization places set up and all of that plan is being put together by public health,” said Mikula. “So this is only one component of a much larger plan that’s coming together.”
On Tuesday, PRHC added new restrictions to its visitation policy to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“We’ve been at this for nearly a year now and we are quite confident that we will keep you safe and if you need care please come in,” she said. “It’s riskier to not seek the care that you need.”
— With files from Jessica Nyznik/ Global News Peterborough
Comments