Hamilton hospitals moving more patients to former hotel satellite site as they brace for COVID surge
Hamilton hospitals are moving up to 150 patients to a satellite setting - in a revamped hotel - as they brace for a surge of COVID patients.
But it's still unclear when - or if - non-urgent procedures will be scaled back.
On Tuesday, the province ordered hospitals to prepare for a surge of COVID-19 patients as admissions steadily rise. Ontario Health told hospitals in a memo that those in lockdown and red zones, including Hamilton, must set aside 10 to 15 per cent of beds within 48 hours."
In an interview Wednesday, Donna Johnson, director of general internal medicine and emergency services at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, said the hospital is in the midst of moving 30 alternate level of care patients to a satellite health facility, the former Crowne Plaza Hotel, located at 150 King St. E. In early November, St. Joe's moved 30 patients to the facility, which was set up as an alternate care space for patients awaiting transfer to a community care setting such as a long-term care home.
Moving 60 patients off-site has been a great help," Johnson said, calling it very good timing," since the plan was already in the works before the provincial memo went out.
Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) also has 30 patients at the satellite hospital and is aiming to move another 30 patients more by end of year and 30 more in new year, said spokesperson Veronica Magee.
Johnson said St. Joe's has yet to make a decision on when or if it will need to press pause on non-urgent procedures - a step hospitals across the province were forced to take in the first wave.
We also are looking at our surgical volumes, really trying to balance the different pressures," Johnson said. We're really trying to maintain our activity as long as we can but knowing that we have to be able to have capacity."
She didn't have an estimated date of when a decision might be made.
Johnson added that the hospital wants to avoid a surgery backlog that resulted from the first wave after it cancelled procedures.
Wave two, she said, is different from wave one in the sense that the hospital was under less pressure since it had fewer non-COVID patients. In wave two, they're seeing a very different picture," with more emergency room patients this time around and a hospital capacity that's sitting between 95 and 100 per cent.
As for HHS, it said in a statement: In accordance with Ministry direction, we are prepared to make available 10 per cent of in-patient capacity in the event of a surge in COVID cases. If necessary, we can increase that surge capacity further - to 15 per cent."
The statement acknowledged HHS sites are under stress" saying sites are hovering at nearly 100 per cent occupancy or more" every day.
The Spec has asked HHS if it plans to scale back procedures to prepare for a surge of COVID patients and is waiting to hear back.
As of Wednesday, St. Joe's has 13 COVID patients in hospital and HHS has 38.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com