Waterloo Region & Wellington County | February 11, 2022
Click here to read the Waterloo Wellington COVID Report for Friday, February 11, 2022 that local hospitals have committed to jointly providing on Tuesdays and Fridays. Beginning next week, we will be moving to a once-weekly update published on Fridays.
This week, the Chief Medical of Health issued a memo lifting Directive #2 and updating Directive #2.1 to allow hospitals to gradually resume non-urgent and non-emergent surgeries and procedures. Dr. Moore acknowledged capacity challenges and the continued need for hospitals to work together to maximize resources across the system. Given the current occupancy and pressures, similar to many hospitals in Ontario, starting next week Waterloo Wellington hospitals will resume surgeries such as cataracts, some orthopedic procedures, and other general surgeries. Urgent and emergency procedures that require an inpatient stay will continue, as we’ve done through this wave. Gradually, as hospitalizations for COVID-19 continue to go down, and those currently in our care for COVID recover, we will continue with the ongoing increase in surgery as feasible.
Waterloo Wellington hospitals continue to work together as a system of care to smooth capacity across the community which may include the requirement, as part of Directive #2.1, to transfer patients when necessary.
As a community, we continue to care for more patients than there are beds and despite local vaccination efforts, a large number of patients being admitted for care severely ill as a result of COVID-19 are unvaccinated. This trend is not unique to the region but reflected across the healthcare system as reported by Ontario Science Table in their Ontario Dashboard.
“What we are seeing at the hospital is that almost every patient coming in with severe COVID, requiring high levels of supplemental oxygen or intubation, are unvaccinated,” says Dr. Jon Langridge, Interim Chief, Critical Care Medicine, St. Mary’s General Hospital. “Unfortunately, we are also seeing these patients remain very sick for weeks or even months, some do not survive. For the most part those patients who are vaccinated and get admitted with COVID are much less sick and tend to recover much quicker. It's not political for us working on the front lines, it's just the reality of what we are seeing day after day.”
“With the lifting of Directive #2, Waterloo Wellington hospitals will start to gradually further resume surgery starting with an increase in outpatient procedures,” says Lee Fairclough, Regional Hospital Lead for COVID response and President, St. Mary’s General Hospital. “For those that are waiting for surgery or imaging, the hospital and/or your surgeon’s office will reach out to you when your appointment is scheduled. We appreciate your patience and hope that if the trends for hospitalization for COVID continue to decrease, it will create even more opportunity to resume this care.”
More Information:
Stephan Beckhoff
Manager, Public Affairs & Communications
Cambridge Memorial Hospital
sbeckhoff@cmh.org
t: 519-621-2333 ext. 2427
m: 519-654-8334
Cheryl Evans
Manager, Communications and
Engagement
Grand River Hospital
cheryl.evans@grhosp.on.ca
t: 519-749-4300 ext. 3880
m: 226-749-0689
Alison Armstrong
Manager, Communications and
Stakeholder Relations
Wellington Health Care Alliance
Groves Memorial Community Hospital
North Wellington Health Care
aarmstrong@whca.ca
519-843-2010 ext. 47614
Perry Hagerman
Senior Communications Specialist
Guelph General Hospital
PHagerman@gghorg.ca
519-837-6440 ext. 2774
Dayna Giorgio
Manager, Communications
St. Mary’s General Hospital
dgiorgio@smgh.ca
519-895-6540