Health Sciences North in Sudbury well-prepared for COVID-19, says CEO

Health Sciences North (HSN) is ready should COVID-19 make an appearance in northern Ontario.

Dominic Giroux says that since January, the hospital has been reviewing its existing practices and expectations for infectious diseases and stepped up its emergency response from Level 1 to Level 2 of a four-level response protocol.

Giroux is president and chief executive officer at Health Sciences North.

"We've implemented passive screening in our registration areas so that patients with symptoms and also travel history be able to identify themselves," said Giroux. "We've also implemented active screening in the emergency department for patients who present themselves with fever, cough, and trouble breathing, but also have the travel history," he added.

Giroux says the initial case definition from the Ministry of Health was patients who have travelled in the Wuhan region of China. That travel history now includes up to sevencountries such as Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Italy and Iran.

If you have a fever, are feeling unwell, and have travelled to one of those countries, Giroux says you are identified as a potential case.

Health Sciences North has 29 negative pressure rooms designed for patient isolation and to contain airborne contaminants.

Giroux says the hospital has reviewed its inventory of personal protective equipment for staff, stocked up on lab kits for testing and reviewed its processes with the Public Health Ontario laboratory in Toronto. HSN is able to get test results back within 48 hours.

"So these are the types of steps that we've taken over the last few weeks to ensure readiness," said Giroux. "We even did a mock session last week with Emergency Management Services . . . following a fictional patient through the emergency department to make sure that our processes are in place at this stage," he added.

The 29 negative pressure rooms are currently being used by patients because of overcrowding at HSN but Giroux says there are protocols in place to determine which rooms would be used should presumptive patients present themselves.

"Keep in mind that most of the cases we've seen so far in Canada, the required hospitalization is quite limited," said Giroux. "Patients will come to the hospital, may need to receive immediate care and very often they're safely discharged at home in self-isolation with appropriate monitoring and supports from public health."

Giroux says should two or more patients under investigation for COVID-19 be admitted, HSN would move from Level 2 to Level 3 of its emergency management plan.

He explained that this would involve introducing active screening at key entry points to the hospital and redeploying staff from non-critical services to more critical services.

Patients would, unfortunately, have to expect some cancellation of elective services.

As for surge capacity, Giroux says that over the winter, HSN opened two new overflow units with 24 beds to ease the pressure during flu season. Those beds are located in the hospital's North and South towers.

He says using another site, such as the former Memorial Hospital on Regent Street, is not a viable option.

"I'm confident in the steps that have been taken over the last few weeks and the protocols we have in place to escalate the levels of emergency," said Giroux.

Giroux adds that he's been impressed with the level of collaboration, aligning with public health.

"That's key in any emergency situation. And I think we're well positioned for what may be expected in our community," he said.