Hamilton vaccination clinic closing to free up urgently needed hospital staff
Hamilton is closing a second vaccination clinic and adjusting the hours of others to free up health-care workers to shore up stressed hospitals that continue to transfer patients out of the area.
In order to reallocate the resources that are very much needed across a very strained health-care system there are changes underway," Hamilton's medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, said at a city briefing Monday.
St. Joseph's Healthcare will close its COVID vaccination clinic at the West 5th Campus at the end of the day on Jan. 28.
It follows Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) shutting down its immunization program at the West End Clinic on Jan. 17.
In addition, hours will be adjusted at the Mountain vaccine clinic at CF Lime Ridge Mall, and the Centre on Barton vaccine clinic.
It's the latest drastic effort by Hamilton's hospitals to keep essential services running as the fast-spreading Omicron variant has left them in a precarious position.
Three more patients have been transferred out of an area that includes Hamilton, Burlington, Niagara, Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk.
It brings the total number of patients sent away to 15 since Jan. 9 - patients have not been transferred out of this area at any other time during the pandemic.
It's not clear where the patients have gone, although it is believed that at least 10 of them remained in Ontario West, which is a massive health region stretching from Burlington to Windsor and from Niagara to Northern Bruce Peninsula.
Other extraordinary measures taken this month by Hamilton's hospitals include ramping down non-urgent surgery, procedures, diagnostics and ambulatory care, treating intensive care unit (ICU) patients on wards and in recovery rooms, redeploying staff, bringing back retired workers and putting vacations on pause.
HHS closed its West End Urgent Care Clinic for up to eight weeks and St. Joseph's reduced the hours at its King Campus urgent care to 4 to 10 p.m.
A Hamilton member of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table laid bare what it is like for health-care workers during the latest surge.
Dr. Menaka Pai took to Twitter Monday to describe staff with their faces creased up from N95s (masks) and their hearts broken from too much sickness and not enough drugs, beds, (health-care workers) to fix it."
Hamilton's hospitals are out of a key COVID drug, their intensive care units were full or over occupancy as of last week and they have 609 staff self-isolating. The number of staff infected or exposed is down from 1,032 a week ago, but still high enough to require urgent measures.
COVID hospitalizations continue to climb, with an average 12 Hamiltonians admitted per day as of Monday compared to 10 a week ago, said Richardson.
Hamilton's hospitals were caring for 281 COVID patients Monday, including 35 in the ICU.
Despite Hamilton's hospitals pleading with Hamiltonians to get vaccinated, demand for the COVID shot has declined significantly.
The city gave out more than 10,000 doses a day on Dec. 21 and 22, but that has since fallen to 3,000 a day or less in the last week.
Just over 81 per cent of eligible Hamiltonians age five and older have had two COVID shots. However, certain populations have a long way to go.
Fewer than 50 per cent of Hamilton children age five to 11 have had one dose. Just over one-third of those age 18 to 34 have had their booster shot.
Public health is counting on pharmacies to pick up some of the load as the hospitals close their vaccination clinics. So far, pharmacies have given out about 25 per cent of COVID shots in Hamilton.
In addition, mobile units will go to seniors' homes to give out forth doses to residents and third shots to staff.
Joanna Frketich is a health reporter at The Spectator. jfrketich@thespec.com