Twenty-one months into the COVID-19 pandemic and a top official at Peterborough Regional Health Centre admits staff are “exhausted” but aren’t giving up the fight.
During a media teleconference on Thursday afternoon, Dr. Lynn Mikula, PRHC’s executive vice-president, chief of staff and chief medical executive, said the latest COVID-19 case surge, spurred by the Omicron variant, has been “emotionally difficult” and “challenging” for the hospital’s staff who were already facing high seasonal patient volumes.
“I think most of us were hoping we were past it and now we’re in it again. That’s challenging,” she said. “In particular for healthcare workers who are giving up their holidays to work, giving up their contacts with their loved ones so they can be safe to come to work.
“Everyone is very tired — there’s not a lot of gas left in the tank for anybody. I think we’re all feeling quite exhausted,” she said.
As of Thursday afternoon, Mikula said there were six inpatients with COVID-19, two in the intensive care unit. However, Peterborough has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases in the past several weeks, up to 208 active as of late Wednesday afternoon. It’s a case jump Mikula calls “worrying.”
“The landscape today is much different from COVID-19 waves in the past,” she said. “Although the severity of Omicron is not yet fully understood, the sheer number of infections is very worrying. With this many cases, if even a small percentage of infected individuals needs hospital admission, it will have a significant impact on hospitals.
“Healthcare workers in Peterborough and across Ontario are exhausted after working 21 months through the pandemic and hospitals everywhere are running short-staffed,” she continued. “A surge of additional patients with COVID-19 could have a significant impact on our ability to provide patient care.”
Assessment centre testing demand
In connection with the case surge, comes demand for COVID-19 tests at the hospital’s assessment centre. While data was not immediately available, Mikula said the hospital has seen a “very dramatic increase” in demand for tests. Efforts to expand testing capacity have “not been sufficient to meet current demand.”
She noted all appointments quickly filled up at a pop-up clinic being held three days this week at St. Peter Catholic Secondary School in the city.
“The demand and calls are overwhelming — even though we’ve increased staffing and hours,” said Mikula. “It’s impossible to know how many people aren’t getting through (to book an appointment).”
“We are looking for ways to further increase testing availability, but we are limited by staffing and laboratory capacity.”
One strategy will involve changes to testing for healthcare workers at the hospital to free up capacity at the assessment centre. She noted the drive-through testing centre held earlier this year is not an option since paramedics are also currently facing staffing issues.
“It’s important to recognize that capacity can’t expand forever,” she said. “There’s a limit in terms of people available to do the testing and the laboratory capacity — and I think we’re rapidly reaching that limit. We really want people to refer to Peterborough Public Health guidelines when they come for a PCR test and when they don’t need to.”
Mikula is encouraging the public to be vigilant with public health guidelines such as getting vaccinated, limiting gatherings outside the household, wearing a medical-grade mask when out, and staying home as much as possible.
“In the hospital, I think people are — once again as they always do — they’re rising to the occasion and will do what needs to be to get through this,” she said. “As with everyone in the whole world, we’re looking and saying ‘wow this tough, it’s tough.'”
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