Elgin County residents are being urged to take steps to protect themselves against respiratory infections that are likely to make already long emergency room wait times and hospital bed shortages worse.
St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital (STEGH) said Thursday it continues to deal with staffing issues and is over capacity in all areas, including the paediatric and neonatal intensive care units. The hospital added that, with flu season around the corner, it does not anticipate those challenges to subside and in fact expects them to get worse.
“We are still seeing an increasing number of patients with COVID-19,” said Karen Davies, hospital president and CEO. “Today, we have 27 patients in hospital with COVID-19. That’s significantly more than we’ve had the past few weeks. We are experiencing a system under pressure across our entire region. Many of us are functioning with critical staffing levels while also addressing an increase in patient volumes with respiratory illness, including COVID."
The higher than normal volume of patients means people admitted through the emergency department are having to stay in the ER longer, which increases wait times for others. Another complication slowing down the emergency department's ability to operate as effectively as it once did is that more people are coming in with more severe or complicated ailments.
"This is likely due to the lengthy duration of the pandemic," said Craig Watkin, the hospital's vice president patient services and chief nursing executive. "People may not have been able to access care or they have been delaying seeking care, so they are coming in sicker, often requiring admission to hospital. Increased wait times, staffing shortages and even emergency room closures are unfortunately continuing to be a major issue across our region.”
The hospital is now turning to the public for help alleviating pressure on the system. It encourages residents to seek alternate options for non-urgent care such as going to a walk-in clinic or urgent care centre, visiting a family doctor or calling Health Connect Ontario at 811.
To lower personal risk of contracting a respiratory infection, residents are also asked to wear a mask in public areas, minimizing exposure to those who may be ill, stay home if sick, and get a flu shot.
"I’d like to thank our community for their continued support, cooperation, kindness and patience," said Davies.