THUNDER BAY – The situation at Thunder Bay’s regional hospital, where COVID-19 threatened to overwhelm capacity in recent weeks, has improved significantly, with the possibility of some elective surgeries resuming in a matter of days.
There were 30 COVID-positive patients admitted to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) as of Friday afternoon, with 6 of those in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The hospital was at 76 per cent of its overall capacity.
Those numbers are much improved from two weeks ago, when there were 51 infected patients admitted, with 14 of those in ICU, with an overall occupancy rate of 85 per cent. The institution announced it had begun transferring and diverting patients to southern Ontario the next day.
“Overall for us, things are quite a bit better than they were last week,” said executive vice president of in-patient care programs Peter Voros, who now serves as the hospital's COVID-19 incident manager after the recent departure of Dr. Stewart Kennedy.
However, he emphasized the situation can change quickly, and concerns over rising infection rates elsewhere in the province.
“All of this is a good sign, but I do have to say as a community we have to stay vigilant,” he said. “We see what’s happening in southern Ontario with wave three… Our partners in hospitals in southern Ontario, their ICUs are really struggling, you’re seeing in the news that patients are [being transferred].”
The local situation also remains serious – the Thunder Bay District Health Unit still had the second-highest per capita rate of confirmed cases in the province in most recent provincial data Friday, while five new deaths attributed to the virus were announced Wednesday.
Capacity at the hospital is also set to increase Saturday, when a COVID-19 outbreak announced March 12 is expected to be declared over, allowing the unit to reopen fully for new admissions.
Ten patients affected by the outbreak were still on the unit Friday, Voros reported. All had been tested three times and returned negative results each time.
It’s the decline in ICU patients that will make the biggest difference to the hospital’s ability to resume elective surgeries, however (urgent surgeries were not interrupted, said Voros).
After expanding the ICU, which usually has a capacity of 22 patients, to fill two surgical units, the hospital could regain the use of one of those units as early as next week – depending on trends in the coming days.
“It’s always a balance between being prepared to deal with what’s coming in the door, and ensuring we’re also providing the care we need to provide,” Voros said. “We know when we ramp down services, there are people waiting for those services who get sicker as they wait – so we certainly don’t want to just sit and wait.”
The hospital has an ethical surgical team that will help prioritize the resumption of surgeries, with more information likely to be released next week.
