While Royal Victoria Hospital will construct a field hospital, there are no plans for anything on that scale locally.
“GBGH does not have plans for a field hospital at this time,” Georgian Bay General Hospital spokesperson Jennifer Moore said.
“The structure at RVH will serve as a fully-functioning field hospital and is a regional resource to assist with patient overflow at any of this region’s hospitals.”
Plans are now underway to create field hospitals in Collingwood and Barrie with the region’s top doctor saying off-site facilities could be key for keeping health-care centres open during future waves of the COVID-19.
Dr. Charles Gardner, the medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, suggested the field hospitals could be kept on standby and if another wave of the virus hits, hospitals can keep their operating rooms and other services running and treat COVID-19 patients at the off-site facilities.
"With this first surge, we had to put elective surgeries on hold,” Gardner said earlier this week. “That is highly undesirable. If we are going to see future waves of this pandemic, it would be far better if we built into the system ways to manage those waves without having to lose elective procedures.”
As for new protocols or policies at GBGH, Moore said there are no new updates at this time, noting “our situation is still stable.”
As well, Moore reported how many people have gone through the local assessment centre located on King Street.
In total, the centre has seen 393 area residents, with 41 screened only and 352 screened and swabbed for testing since it opened March 25.
This past Wednesday, the centre saw 35 people with all of them being both screened and swabbed. The highest number for the month was April 22 when 44 arrived and were all screened and swabbed for testing. The lowest was last Saturday (April 25) when just five people showed up and were all screened and swabbed.
Moore said the centre is staffed by representatives from area health facilities, including 15 from GBGH, seven each from Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care and Chigamik Community Health Centre, four from Wendat and one from the South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre.
The assessment centre booking desk is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and can be reached at 705-529-1025.
For COVID-19 updates, visit the GBGH website.
