The West Parry Sound Health Centre (WPSHC) says as long as there are critical resources our local hospital should be able to weather COVID-19’s fifth wave and the intense blow to healthcare.
Communications Officer Jim Hanna says as long as resources are sustained, the hospital is prepared to be adaptive and responsive to changes that might challenge any aspect of its health care system.
Hanna says the centre’s organizational response from the outset of the pandemic has been to protect all of the critical resources necessary for the delivery of safe and sustainable care. That includes no interruption to the hospital’s critical supply chain, he says.
Most importantly, however, according to Hanna, is protecting and supporting physicians and staff from every department, adding everyone provides a skill-set that is necessary to sustain their delivery of care.
He says the centre is closely watching ICU and general admission numbers throughout Ontario, adding numbers are rising and some health systems are dealing with significant impacts.
Hanna says WPSHC hopes to avoid that experience and calls upon the community to continue taking all precautions necessary to help protect the centre’s delivery of care and the services being provided by its health system partners.
He adds that everyone can support the hospital’s safety by getting fully vaccinated, staying home if mildly ill, limiting social contacts, as well as of course masking, maintaining safe physical distance, and frequent hand hygiene.
He also says the centre is asking residents to “please ‘tread lightly’ on all public services”. After all, the centre does only have six ICU beds and, currently, no floor dedicated to COVID-19 patients.