Mother is a ‘prisoner’ in ‘COVID-infested’ temporary Hamilton hospital

Joanne Norwood's mom has been confined to her room for weeks with no visitors at the temporary Hamilton hospital where nearly two-thirds of patients have been infected with COVID.

My frail, 87-year old mother has been a prisoner on the second floor since November and, thankfully, COVID negative so far," said Norwood. With no designated caregivers allowed to see her, she is deteriorating."

COVID-infested" is how Norwood refers to the Satellite Health Facility at 150 King St. E. in Effort Square, where 78 patients at the 120-bed facility have tested positive and four have died.

A further 64 staff were infected in four outbreaks over every floor - three are ongoing.

The facility is jointly run by Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) and St. Joseph's Healthcare. It cares for patients ready to be discharged - primarily those waiting to get into seniors' homes. It's expected to expand to 150 beds later this month.

It was initially left out when long-term care and high-risk retirement homes were vaccinated first.

But patients started to be vaccinated Thursday, including Norwood's mom, which the Ancaster family describes as such a relief."

We've just been terrified," said Norwood. She's like a sitting duck."

Norwood describes checking the city's COVID website every day and watching the virus spread like wildfire" since the first outbreak. The virus started on the third floor on Jan. 6 and ended up on every floor in less than a month.

An outbreak on the second floor - where Norwood's mom is being cared for - was declared Jan. 17. Five days later, on Jan. 22, an outbreak started on the sixth floor. An outbreak on the fifth floor began Feb. 3.

I've been going off the wall," said Norwood. It's just been a nightmare."

She asked, Why is it spreading so much," while pointing out that the hospitals are supposed to be the experts" at infection prevention and control. Both HHS and St. Joseph's have been assigned to help at struggling seniors' homes in outbreak.

It's very disturbing," said Norwood, who was a nurse herself. They've got outbreaks all over the hospitals too."

Ongoing hospital outbreaks include one at Hamilton General Hospital, two at Juravinski Hospital and one at the West 5th Campus of St. Joe's. Other outbreaks have recently come to an end, including the one on the third floor of the temporary hospital.

Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton recognize recent outbreaks may have created feelings of concern among some families of patients and our health-care workers," the two hospital networks said in a joint statement Thursday. We have worked closely with our teams to ensure best practices are in place, and they are providing care in an environment that meets infection prevention and control and industry standards, and regulatory requirements."

The statement went on to say: There are many factors that contribute to outbreaks, such as adherence to infection prevention best practices, the physical environment, cleaning, and communication practices."'

The hospitals listed eight ways they respond to outbreaks, including additional testing and isolation of those infected.

Patients who test positive at the satellite health facility are sent back to COVID units in the hospitals.

These seniors are waiting for LTC and were shipped out of hospital," said Norwood. Most have been sent back to the hospitals with COVID - so the experiment has fallen flat."

Norwood's mom was originally in a room that housed two patients when she first arrived at the site to await LTC after becoming too ill to go back to her retirement home.

She now has her own room after HHS and St. Joseph's moved away from semiprivate rooms to prevent COVID spread.

All of the homes where Norwood's mom is on a waiting list have also had major COVID outbreaks, causing the family further worry.

She lost the opportunity to go to a transitional bed to wait for LTC because of the outbreaks at the temporary hospital.

The outbreaks have also meant that she's been confined to her room and sees no one except for the staff, who Norwood says are doing their best under the circumstances.

No visitors are allowed - and that includes the two essential caregivers each resident would normally get. Norwood's two sisters were visiting every day before the outbreaks to encourage their mom to eat, do her hair and keep an eye on things."

Norwood says the patients can't even have showers right now and instead have to make do with sponge baths.

She describes her mom as more gaunt" on every Zoom call. She misses her four children and 10 grandchildren, and issues with her memory means she doesn't always understand why they're not there.

They're human beings. My mom was a teacher her whole life. A very proud lady ... She loved Grade 1 the most because they learn so much in one year," said Norwood. It's really sad. The whole thing is sad."

Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com