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the ottawa hospital building patient overflow space in its ambulance offload garage at the general campus
two years after opening a tent-like structure in the pa...
jan 20 2023
2 minute read
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two years after opening a tent-like structure in the parking lot of its civic campus to deal with overcrowding, the ottawa hospital is building a similar overflow space in the ambulance offload garage at its general campus.
hospital president and ceo cameron love confirmed that the hospital is working with the ministry of health on plans to build a 10- to 20-bed unit inside the ambulance offload bay attached to the emergency department at the general. the campus located on smyth road does not have the physical capacity to handle surges of patients, driven by viral illnesses, including covid-19, and other factors.
“part of our plan to create further surge capacity is to create similar overflow offload space (to the civic) at the general,” said love.
he said the ambulance offload garage at the general has been used in the past during the pandemic “when under duress.” the plan is to make it into a more permanent space for surge capacity.
like the civic’s surge space, it will be aimed at improving ambulance offload time, improving patient flow and adding hospital beds.
the temporary structure built in the parking lot of the civic contains 40 patient beds and 10 beds for ambulance offload.
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patient beds are already located in the rehabilitation gym at the general campus, and patients are also frequently treated in hallways at both campuses, according to staff.
love said the new space will not open before march but will help build capacity for “future winters”.
the ottawa hospital and other hospitals across the province have been dealing with a severe viral season, with influenza, rsv (respiratory syncytial virus) and covid-19 circulating at high levels since the fall.
cheo was hit hard by the viral surge last fall. among other things, it was forced to open a second pediatric intensive care unit to house the numbers of severely ill children needing critical care. cheo says the situation there has now stabilized.
the ottawa hospital and other adult hospitals continue to see increased pressure and long emergency department waits for a number of reasons, including covid-19.
according to ottawa public health’s latest numbers, 31 people are in hospital in ottawa because of covid-19, three of them in icu.
the temporary space at the civic was built to handle patient overflow related to the pandemic. love said the hospital expects to continue to need additional surge space “for at least a number of years”.
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the ottawa hospital has a total of 1,100 beds, he said, with another 100 beds at the university of ottawa heart institute.
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