St. Joe's and HHS implementing ICU surge plans as COVID-19 cases grow

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton and Hamilton Health Sciences are both implementing plans to deal with surges of patients in their intensive care units.

St. Joe's interim chief of staff Dr. David Russell and executive vice president Dr. Cheryl Williams made the announcement in a staff memo dated April 1, saying the ICU is at full capacity.

"Since March 17, 2021, COVID-19 admissions have risen steadily and ICU occupancy has been at or near 100%, paralleling the Provincial experience," read the note.

"With ICU occupancy at 100%, the [NHBB Hospital Incident Management Structure team] has taken the decision to implement our ICU surge plan."

The news comes as the third wave of COVID-19 is set to cause significant strain on hospitals and infect younger people.

There are few details about the Hamilton Health Sciences plans, but Rob MacIssac, HHS president and CEO, confirmed the hospital network is moving forward with a similar strategy. HHS had plans to build a temporary hospital to prepare for more cases. 

ICU surge plan has four steps

St. Joe's said the ICU surge plan has four steps:

• On March 31, St. Joe's would move four ICU patients to the Medical Step Down Unit to make room in the ICU for patients with COVID-19 related critical illnesses.
• St. Joe's will separate level two and three critical care beds across the hospital into COVID-19 positive (ICU) and COVID-19 negative (Medical and Surgical Stepdown Units and ICU West) areas.
• Nursing assignments will be reviewed to provide maximum support for the critical care areas with an increased number of COVID-19 patients.
• The hospital will maintain as much scheduled surgery as possible.

The memo states that as of April 1, the hospital has maintained scheduled surgery at near maximum capacity and its general internal medicine capacity is still at an "acceptable range," which will allow it to keep the current patient flow and minimize admissions into the emergency department.

St. Joe's also said its rate of alternate level of care patients is down 21 per cent as discharges from the Satellite Health Facility and to long-term care homes continue.

"This is a vast improvement compared to our situation in the midst of the second wave. We have a solid critical care surge plan, it has been implemented in a pro-active way and we believe we are well prepared for what may be the most difficult of the three COVID-19 waves," read the memo.

The memo acknowledged staff are feeling "fatigued and concerned about the challenges we face in the coming weeks."

Hospital launching mobile vaccine teams

St. Joe's is also launching mobile vaccination teams for hospital inpatients at the Charlton and West 5th campuses.

Cheryl Williams, chief nurse and executive vice-president of clinical operations, said during a town hall meeting last week the teams are being put in place to support public health in vaccinating eligible patients.

She also said doing so would allow public health's mobile vaccine clinics to focus on the general population.

Spokesperson Maria Hayes said the team's start date is dependent on vaccine availability.