The number of COVID-positive patients being treated at Barrie’s Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) may have decreased in recent days, but we are nowhere close to being out of the woods, local hospital officials say.
“This has been a punishing third wave, pushing many hospitals close to the breaking point and facing a situation we’ve never seen before and frankly didn’t ever want to imagine,” RVH president and chief executive officer Janice Skot told reporters this morning during a virtual press conference.
“The crisis is real," she added. "The crisis is here at Simcoe-Muskoka.”
As of today (April 28), Skot said RVH is caring for 32 COVID patients, with 12 in critical care and nine using a ventilator.
While those numbers have eased somewhat since the weekend when the hospital was caring for 61 COVID patients and 18 in critical care, it’s still too high, she says.
“To put that in perspective, six weeks ago we had a total of three COVID patients and one in the ICU (intensive care unit). That’s how fast the situation has worsened,” said Skot, noting patients are younger and getting sicker faster.
The hospital’s 16-bed ICU is full, prompting RVH to enact its critical care surge plan, which enables it to create 19 additional beds.
They’re currently operating three COVID units and a 70-bed field hospital in the parking lot. And like all Ontario hospitals, RVH has cancelled all non-emergency surgeries and procedures to free up even more beds and allow the redeployment of staff to areas of need.
RVH will also be utilizing the assistance of 16 home-care workers, who Skot noted have volunteered to work at the facility, and they will also be bringing up 45 health-care students, including nurses, physicians, paramedics, etc., in their final years of training to provide additional support under close supervision.
“The situations are that dire," she said.
Hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) are seeing double-digit COVID admissions every day, putting them at over capacity and forcing them to transfer dozens of patients to distant communities daily, Skot added.
The Barrie hospital alone has accepted more than 60 GTA transfers over the past two weeks and 165 patients since November.
“RVH is doing its part by contributing to a co-ordinated system and ensuring hospital services keep functioning safely,” she said.
To ensure they have enough beds, Skot said the hospital has had to transfer 50 patients to other hospitals as far away as Sault St. Marie.
“These patients are frightened and are far away from their families," she added. "Some of them are dying alone.”
While Skot acknowledged Ontario has seen a slight decrease in new case counts, hospitals continue to brace for increasing ICU admissions, noting projections released by the province’s Science Advisory Table show the province could see up to 2,000 patients in the ICU in the weeks ahead.
“To put that in perspective, today there are 877 patients in ICUs in the province,” she said, describing the impact of the third wave as an inferno, catastrophic and a nightmare.
“Those descriptors aren't hyperbole. The current reality is all those things and more," Skot added.
Ontario hospitals, including RVH, are being tested, but Skot is confident they are both well trained and well prepared for what could come. That said, she continues to plead with the community to do their part.
“If ever there was a time for us to double down on adherence to safety measures, this is it. Our staff and physicians are exhausted. They’re bone weary from the relentless, gruelling year (of) long, uncertain days, wearing hot PPE. They’re worried about their own safety and of course that of their families,” she said.
“I’ve heard it described as running a marathon where they keep moving the finish line. We just don’t know when it will end," Skot added. "These are tough days and, unfortunately, they may get tougher. I have no doubt Team RVH will continue to dig deep and get us through this.”
