Kingston Health Sciences Centre assisting overflowing hospitals across Ontario

It started with a simple strep, an infection that progressively got worse.

Stephanie Rutherford decided to take her four-year-old son to the hospital, but all the hospitals close to where they live in Simcoe, Ont., were full

“Unfortunately McMaster didn’t have any space for us, so then they started talking about sending us to London, who also didn’t have space,” said Rutherford.

Kingston Health Sciences Centre is in a position to help and has been taking patients from other regions.

“We’ve accepted over 20 pediatric patients from out of region, so from across the province of Ontario,” said Jason Hann, chief nursing executive at KHSC.

He adds that making room for extra patients was the least KHSC could do to help the community

“We’ve transferred the medical patients that would be admitted to that unit to different locations within the organization to create that pediatric capacity,” said Hann

These actions taken by the Kingston Health Sciences Centre are a band-aid solution for a health care system in Ontario that is struggling to keep up with the volume of ill children.

“As we all know that there’s a health resource challenge across the province, across the country,” said Hann

Rutherford is just grateful her child was able to get the treatment he needed.

“The doctors and nurses here are absolutely incredible. They have taken care of us from the moment we walked through the doors,” said Rutherford.

Kingston Health Sciences Centre has taken in a total of 25 pediatric patients to date.