New Liskeard, Ont.: On Tuesday, April 27, 2021, Temiskaming Hospital admitted a non-COVID-19 patient from the North Bay Regional Health Centre to facilitate capacity for COVID-19 patient transfers to the Health Centre. Temiskaming Hospital is currently sitting at a 96.6 per cent occupancy rate and is proud to play a role in helping its Northern Ontario hospital partners during the third wave of the pandemic.

“It’s a balancing act,” said Temiskaming Hospital President & CEO Mike Baker. “The logistics of moving ICU-bound patients is significant, and with the volumes they are dealing with, it makes more sense to send them to larger and closer centres.” He continued, “For now, our contribution will be to offload patients from larger centres while ensuring we have enough room for our community members should levels of COVID-19 continue to increase in our area.”  

In order to free up additional beds, Temiskaming Hospital is working with the long-term care homes in the area to move its long-term care patients awaiting permanent placement to these facilities. Currently, 31 of Temiskaming Hospital’s 59 beds are occupied by long-term care patients, which at 52 per cent, is one of the highest rates in the province. Changes made to Directive 3 for Long-Term Care on April 23, 2021 have made it easier to move patients while keeping residents safe.

“It is a fine line as we must do what’s best for our community, but now more than ever, we need to work together with our fellow Ontarians to look after all of our population,” continued Baker. “We continue to urge the community to follow the health care guidelines in order to keep community members out of our hospital and out of our intensive care unit.”

For more information on the health care guidelines for COVID-19 and the current situation in the Timiskaming District, please visit the Timiskaming Health Unit’s website at www.timiskaminghu.com/90484/COVID-19.

Temiskaming Hospital continues to encourage community members to access mental health resources available to them during the pandemic including:

  • Timiskaming Crisis Response System at 1-888-665-8888
  • Regional Warm Line at 1-866-856-9276
  • Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868

Temiskaming Hospital’s mission is to provide quality, patient-centered health care and education close to home. For more information about Temiskaming Hospital, please visit www.temiskaming-hospital.com.