Health-care providers to take 'slow and measured' response before ramping up services, officials say

Windsor-Essex health-care providers used a virtual town hall on Friday to reiterate that a "slow and measured" response will be needed before organizations ramp up and begin providing significant non-COVID-19-related services. 

Officials provided their comments hours after Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a small list of workplaces will be allowed to reopen, so long as they meet "strict public health measures and operate safely during the COVID-19 outbreak."

Erie Shores HealthCare president and CEO Janice Dawson was the first to address a question about restarting the region's medical services, explaining that her organization is still waiting on direction for the Ministry of Health. 

"Timing will be everything and we recognize that there are people who have been waiting very patiently for their procedures, their tests, their surgeries, and certainly we acknowledge that," Dawson said. 

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She added that people who have non-COVID-19-related concerns should still seek direction from medical providers — including family physicians and Telehealth Ontario. 

"By all means, if you do need that immediate or emergent medical attention, you can still come to the emergency room and we will still take care of you," she said. 

Musyj said all three Windsor-Essex hospitals are involved in such discussions, adding that Ontario Premier Doug Ford has previously said the province needs to see a "two- to four-week sustained drop in cases," before the province can truly take steps to reopen. 

"We'll do our best, we're all aware of it, but we don't want to lose those gains that we have had as a community and a province and rush back."

Musyj reiterated Dawson's comments about seeking care if necessary, saying that his organization has seen a drop in wait times for percutaneous coronary intervention — a non-invasive procedure that opens up blood vessels in the heart blocked by plaque buildup. 

"That doesn't make any sense, in the sense that our wait times arguably should be going up," he said. "What does that lead one to believe? It's that those who have cardiac issues are not being seen in the community or are not coming to the hospital, avoiding the signs and symptoms."

Musyj said anyone with cardiac concerns should come to the hospital if necessary. 

Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare president and CEO Janice Kaffer said many seniors haven't been attended their regular programming, so her organization is working on finding ways to provide services like mental health and wellness, as well as cardiac care when it's safe to do so. 

For his part, Ahmed addressed a question about Ontario residents possibly getting lost in the wording used by Premier Doug Ford regarding reopening some workplaces and slowly restarting the economy.

We know how sneaky this virus is ...- Gary McNamara, Tecumseh Mayor, Essex County Warden

Ahmed said he was concerned about the language used by the province, saying that the region should "take a cautious approach and gradually ease off those restrictions."

"The key part still is we are having cases, we're able to flatten the curve, we are not seeing the surge as was expected, but it's not gone, it's still here," he said. "That's the important message that people need to know. If and when we start to ease some of those restrictions, the risk will still be there."

He said that some of the changes brought on by COVID-19 will likely remain, even once communities start to reopen, later adding that the community won't be "out of the woods" until a vaccine is available. 

Tecumseh Mayor and Essex County Warden Gary McNamara also brought up the subject of a vaccine, saying that "baby steps" will be necessary to reopen local economies, despite the pressure local councils have faced from residents. 

"We're going to have to be very very careful in terms of how we open up our communities," McNamara said. "We know how sneaky this virus is, and how one person … can distribute this virus throughout the community."

Not all comments made during the virtual town hall were medical-related, with Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens addressing tourism across Windsor-Essex after COVID-19. 

"There is no doubt the first sector that was hit by this global pandemic was our tourism sector," Dilkens said. "You saw almost immediately hotel occupancy rates go down to single digits."

Nonetheless, Dilkens said the core local tourrism group is "working on a recovery plan."

"We've seen our tourism organization be very responsible, make very strategic cuts to be able to weather their own storm," he said. 

Windsor's mayor also addressed the possibility of opening up car showrooms once Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Canada restarts production. 

"When, in fact, FCA does resume production, they're going to have a lot of supply at the pipeline that will need to be moved," he said. "Certainly we want to make sure that they can continue to move in the short-term and cutomers can buy them in a safe way so there's more of a demand in our own city."