Region’s hospitals brace for COVID-19 influx

Facilities to start reporting number of patients from other areas

Waterloo Region’s hospitals are readying for an influx of COVID-19 patients, both local residents and those who may be transferred here from other areas in Ontario overwhelmed by the very unwell.

“Right now, we’ve been able to manage within our region,” said Lee Fairclough, president of St. Mary’s General Hospital and hospital lead for the region’s pandemic response. “We’ve not seen the same influx yet that we’ve seen in the GTA, but our numbers are rising.”

Likely that means more patients will be transferred to the region from other hospitals to ease the strain on critical care there.

“We’re going to have to help neighbouring regions,” Fairclough said. “Every hospital that has ICU capacity will be considered.”

That’s happened throughout the pandemic: the region’s hospitals have worked closely together, and the provincial health-care system has worked as one to get through difficult periods during waves when case numbers soar.

“We know we have to help now because we could be in the same situation,” Fairclough said.

Again, as another wave washes over the province, she said the situation is serious. But this third wave is different for hospitals, which are seeing younger patients who require more intensive care.

The increasing pressure prompted the province to tell hospitals to start ramping down all elective surgeries and nonurgent activities to preserve critical care and staffing

capacity starting this week.

Doing that will free up skilled staff to provide other care if needed, and ensure there’s space to provide acute care to a growing number of COVID-19 patients.

“That’s part of the rationale for the shutdown,” Fairclough said.

Hospitals have been busy since the last wave, trying to catch up on all the surgeries and procedures delayed earlier in the pandemic. Delaying those are decisions not made lightly and once this latest crisis has passed, “we will be looking to quickly pivot back as soon as we can,” Fairclough said.

People who are seriously ill should still go to hospital or their doctor and not put off being checked, she stressed. Urgent and emergency procedures will continue.

Starting this week, the region’s hospitals will begin releasing the number of COVID-19 patients from outside the region once a week on Thursdays.

“We’re going to have pressures in our ability to cope.” LEE FAIRCLOUGH HOSPITAL LEAD FOR PANDEMIC RESPONSE

St. Mary’s reported it had two patients with COVID-related illness in its intensive-care unit at midday on Tuesday, Cambridge Memorial Hospital had four, and Grand River Hospital had 10.

In Waterloo Wellington, 22 per cent of patients in intensive care had COVID-19. Typically before the pandemic, those units would already be at about an 85 per cent occupancy rate.

“Of course, we’re going to have pressures in our ability to cope,” Fairclough said.

The number of hospitalizations reported on the region’s COVID-19 dashboard includes only those patients who are currently infectious. Many remain in hospital beyond that period, sometimes remaining acutely ill for several more weeks.

The provincial stay-at-home order in place until at least the end of April will help hospitals manage intensive-care capacity, but those numbers will likely still be high by the end of the month, she said.

But for now in the midst of the third wave, the situation is constantly changing for hospitals.

“It’s very dynamic. We will be looking at it day to day.”