Waterloo-Wellington hospitals not ready to resume non-urgent surgeries

Ontario has approved the resumption of some non-urgent surgeries that were paused at the start of the month to preserve hospital capacity for covid-19 patients, but some Waterloo Region and Wellington County hospitals say they're still not ready.

In new regulations approved last week, the province said that it will be taking a ‘phased approach’ to getting back on track with some surgeries that were halted in early January.

The resumption of health care services includes non-urgent surgeries and procedures in pediatrics, diagnostic services, cancer screenings, some ambulatory clinics, private hospitals and independent health facilities.

However, last week the province warned that not all hospitals would resume these procedures right away. That includes hospitals in Waterloo-Wellington.

“In our area in Waterloo-Wellington, we continue to be very pressured with the existing and additional volume of COVID-19 related patients that we need to be able to care for, as well as the impact to our staff,” said Lee Fairclough, the President of St. Mary’s General Hospital. “It should be noted that hospitals are still under Directive #2 at the moment, and as we’re able to open up we of course will. It is our first priority to get back to giving care to patients."

Directive #2 required hospitals across the province to ramp-down, but Fairclough says officials are anticipating there will be some changes in the coming days or weeks.

“At this stage, we’re still providing the urgent and emergent surgeries that we need to, but our ability to be able to ramp-up further than that is very constrained at the moment,” said Fairclough.

As of Monday, January 31st, 309 staff in Waterloo-Wellington are off, impacted by COVID-19. That number is down from Friday, when it was 390.

Fairclough said hospitals in Waterloo-Wellington are currently at over 96 percent capacity.

Waterloo resident Kaitlin Muzio is one of many Ontarians waiting for a new surgery appointment.

Muzio, a third year student at the University of Waterloo, has had chronic back issues for the past five years. She was diagnosed with Bertolotti's syndrome last year.

“It’s basically an extra piece of bone that’s been growing in my back and it causes a significant amount of pain for me,” Muzio told CTV News.

Muzio was scheduled to have her surgery on Jan. 5, but the province pressed pause on all non-urgent surgeries three days earlier.

“It’s frustrating that I have lost all this mobility, and that I was just days away from getting a surgery that could potentially, if not bring me back to where I was before, have a significant impact on my quality of life,” said Muzio. “I understand from a logical perspective, cases and hospitalizations were rising, but at the same time, it’s really frustrating because it feels like my life is being put on hold and it keeps getting postponed.”

Muzio’s condition impacts her daily life. She enjoys going for long walks, and cross country skiing with her family, but hasn’t been able to engage in those activities.

“I used to be able to go for hours-long walks, and now it’s a good day if I am able to walk for 20 minutes,” said Muzio, with an optimistic smile. “I try to be thankful for everything I have. I try to spend time with my family and friends and find activities that I am able to do.”

Fairclough is hopeful hospitals in Waterloo-Wellington will be able to resume some surgeries in the next couple of weeks.

“These past few weeks have been some of the most challenging of the pandemic, but over the weekend things improved,” said Fairclough. “We haven't seen a lot of new patients presenting for admissions, which is good. It feels like things may be levelling off, but the hospitals in our region in terms of our occupancy is certainly still very high today.”

She continues to ask residents to follow public health protocols, especially as the province begins to re-open.

“I’m hoping that even though we’re reopening today, that people are still being cautious and wearing masks, getting their booster shot when they’re eligible to do so,” said Muzio. “I think that’s really important to help keep COVID-19 patients out of our hospitals so that people like me who are waiting on their surgery can actually get them scheduled.”

When she does get the call, Muzio says she will feel relieved.

“I am looking forward to hopefully putting some of this pain behind me and getting on with parts of my life that I haven't been able to for the past year."