NEWS RELEASE
SAULT AREA HOSPITAL
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Sault Area Hospital working collaboratively with the City of Sault Ste. Marie as part of SAH’s surge planning, has secured the GFL Memorial Gardens as an alternate hospital site to support our community’s ability to respond to COVID-19.
SAH has a four-stage capacity surge plan for the COVID-19 pandemic. This work includes extensive planning and mobilization throughout our hospital and community including:
- reducing current hospital occupancy in preparation for COVID-19;
- designing a volume-based phased approach to admit patients, utilizing quality care that is influenced by best practice and current infectious disease processes;
- dividing the hospital into sections with a clear separation between areas to better manage various types of patients;
- working with local long-term care facilities to find opportunities to safely relocate patients to empty beds;
- moving patients out of the emergency department into other areas of the hospital so that the ED can focus exclusively on new patients;
- working with Home and Community Care partners to find new opportunities to discharge patients when safe to do so;
- expanding on plans already in place and identify specific offsite locations to house different inpatient and outpatient departments, clinics and services in the event of a surge of local COVID-19 cases;
- effectively managing personal protective equipment and ensure that staff, physicians and patients to have adequate levels available over the coming weeks; and
- working with other regional acute care and long-term care sites across the Algoma District to ensure alignment.
The utilization of the GFL Memorial Gardens is part of stage four. Stage four would only be activated when a threshold of COVID positive patients receiving inpatient care at SAH is surpassed.
In order to be ready for the ever-changing COVID situation preparations have begun at GFL Memorial Gardens with the support of the city and community partners.
SAH remains in stage one of our surge plan.
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