Hospitals across the province are filling up with a rise in patients struggling with COVID-19.
Locally, the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is holding its own, and Chief Nursing Executive Lisa Northcott says they’re ready to help surrounding areas, if need be.
“One of the things that we’ve put in place because of what we’re seeing going on in Windsor and London is we’re ensuring that we have extra capacity,” Northcott says. “15% capacity to take patients from Windsor or London if those organizations get into a situation where their occupancy is such that they can’t accommodate those patients.”
Northcott says the Health Alliance is also helping to ease the pressure on other hospitals in the region by taking back Chatham-Kent residents who have been receiving care elsewhere for non-COVID-related issues.
“For those patients we have very strict protocols in place when they return to Chatham to ensure that they’re isolated appropriately for the appropriate period of time, just because they’ve been in those areas where there’s a high prevalence of COVID.”
As of Friday morning, there are 66 COVID-19 patients being treated in hospital in the Windsor-Essex region, and 36 receiving care at the London Health Science Centre.
