More than half of Bluewater Health's COVID-19 patients, as of Monday, were from outside Sarnia-Lambton.
Communications Chief Julia Oosterman said that seven of 12 currently admitted are from other jurisdictions.
Chief of Staff Dr. Mike Haddad told Sue Storr on CHOK (103.9 FM, 1070 AM) Monday morning that the province has directed Ontario hospitals to share resources to ease capacity issues in hotspot areas like the GTA.
"You have to always zoom out to look at the big picture, it's kind of hard to see it when you're in the middle of a third wave," said Dr. Haddad. "It's bad in the province as a whole, but there's a big focus on the GTA. In our area it's not as bad now, but we had our fair share in the first wave and the second wave. This time it's not as bad and that's why we're able to help others, hopefully locally we don't have any increase in cases. That's why we have to continue to follow the same advice."
Dr. Haddad said Bluewater Health has ramped down as instructed.
"Even if our numbers are low, we've been asked to ramp down because we need to free up resources to be able to help our neighbours, just like we expect them to help us when we're in trouble," he said. "So, it has already affected many people by cancelling their cases for example. We've closed down some ORs [operating rooms] to free up staff, so it does affect us."
Three of Bluewater Health's 12 positive patients are under the age of 60. As of Monday, five were in intensive care with two on ventilators.
Dr. Haddad said Bluewater Health staff are doing well. He said they're ready to help and the local hospital currently has the capacity to offer assistance to hard hit areas of Ontario.
-With files from Sue Storr
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