Sudbury hospital using care homes to address overcapacity

COVID-19 forces Sudbury hospital to move patients Health Sciences North CEO Dominic Giroux tells Brendan Connor how the hospital is coping with a surge in COVID-19 patients.

Sudbury — Sudbury's hospital, Health Sciences North, is taking over 40 beds at two local long-term care homes in an effort to address capacity issues at the main hospital.

Recently, there have been almost 600 admissions at HSN, a facility built for about 440.

"As northerners know, Health Sciences North was built too small. We're at record level of admissions right now and, obviously, the COVID-19 admissions has only made things worse for us," hospital CEO Dominic Giroux said.

HSN will be using a total of 40 beds at York Extendicare and Amberwood Suites, both in the city's south end.

Permission had to be given by the province for this cooperative project.

It's being called a time-limited measure to alleviate capacity issues at the main hospital site.

"For the 24 beds that will be reopened for convalescent care at Extendicare York, these will be for patients who suffered from a prolonged illness or have recently been injured or had surgery and still require ongoing assessment treatment. In the case of the 16 additional beds that will be hospital beds at the Amberwood retirement home. This will be for patients who still require a level of care that may include for example assistance with daily living as they maintain their current health," Giroux said.

The hospital patients located at these facilities will be taken care of by care home staff.

A COVID-19 outbreak was declared in the hospital's level four of the north tower Oct. 30 and remains active.

As of Thursday afternoon, 16 people with COVID-19 are hospitalized at HSN with five of those in the intensive care unit. Seven others have been tested and are waiting for their results.

The Sudbury and Manitoulin area currently have 235 active COVID-19 cases after 37 new infections were confirmed Thursday and 29 previous cases were deemed resolved, including another COVID-related death.