The chief of staff at Bluewater Health says they're taking a different approach in their preparations for a possible second wave of COVID-19 locally.
Dr. Mike Haddad told Sue Storr on CHOK (103.9 FM, 1070 AM) Wednesday morning the strategy this time is to maintain normal hospital services.
Bluewater Health Chief of Staff Doctor Mike Haddad (photo via community news conference Apr. 7, 2020)
"In the first wave we saw what was happening in Europe, we knew it was going to be bad, so we were directed to stop elective cases and free up capacity in the hospital," said Haddad. "So this time around it's a bit different, the challenge now is to maintain services and at the same time accommodate a second wave."
Dr. Haddad said new cases in Ontario seem to be affecting younger, healthier people so there haven't been the hospitalization rates that we saw in April, at least not yet.
"Having said that, we are watching what's happening in the rest of the province. We've been blessed so far in Lambton that we haven't seen a surge in COVID, which is great, so it's allowing us some breathing room to continue our plans for now," he said.
Dr. Haddad said they've made some progress over the summer reducing a sizeable backlog of cancelled procedures but he still estimates it'll be next March before it's cleared.
He said overall, the hospital is at 90 per cent capacity and the emergency department has returned to pre-pandemic levels after visits dropped by 50 per cent during the height of the first wave in April.
-With files from Sue Storr