GBGH puts safety first as team receives their annual flu shots

Gail Hunt, president and CEO of Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) received her flu shot this year from GBGH chief of staff Dr. Vikram Ralhan. GBGH’s Occupational Health team will complete the rest of this year’s immunizations for staff, credentialed staff and volunteers. Receiving a flu vaccination is especially important this year as the hospital wants to avoid parallel surges in COVID and influenza patients this fall and winter.    

October 29, 2020 – Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) launched its annual influenza immunization campaign this week in the hospital’s efforts to ensure patient, visitor and staff safety during the upcoming flu season. During the campaign staff, credentialed staff and volunteers are encouraged to receive their flu shot at the hospital to protect patients, themselves, their loved ones and their colleagues.

“Our annual flu shot campaign is an important part of GBGH’s commitment to safety – for both our patients and our team,” says Gail Hunt, president and CEO, GBGH. “Receiving a flu shot this year is critically important as we want to help reduce the burden on the healthcare system during the pandemic. Each fall and winter, GBGH anticipates there will be an increased need for hospital beds, but this year with potential COVID surges a possibility, we worry about the parallel risks of the pandemic paired with a bad flu season. We need to do everything we can to ensure our patients and community are safe, and this includes receiving our flu shots.”

GBGH makes vaccination a top priority every year based on two main considerations – ensuring its team of staff, credentialed staff and volunteers don’t pass along influenza to patients, as well as ensuring its team is healthy to provide care to patients when they need the hospital.

“The hospital is doing its part to reduce the chance of transmitting flu to patients and is committed to ensuring the highest safety precautions are in place to protect patients,” says Judy Schell, manager, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), GBGH. “It’s equally important for our community to make flu vaccination a priority this year. Vaccination has a positive impact on reducing flu activity in the community, and therefore decreases the chance it will be brought into the hospital and possibly transmitted to our patients or staff.”

To make receiving immunizations as convenient as possible, OHS is visiting all GBGH department six days a week for two weeks and then running additional clinics to ensure as many of its team members as possible receive a flu shot during the next five weeks. GBGH’s flu shot campaign is running from October 22 to November 30.

As part of standard COVID precautions, all patients and visitors are screened upon entering the building for symptoms of COVID, which can be similar to influenza. All patients and visitors are asked to wear a hospital-provided mask and practice hand hygiene when entering GBGH at the main or Emergency department entrances.

Contact:

Jennifer Moore

Communications Officer, GBGH

705-526-1300 ext 5177

moorejen@gbgh.on.ca

GBGH ICU achieves Level 3 Basic designation

October 21, 2020 – Georgian Bay General Hospital’s (GBGH) Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has been recently designated as a Level 3 Basic facility based on a recent review by Critical Care Services Ontario (CCSO) of ICUs across the province. This is the second highest designation an ICU can receive in Ontario with the exception of specialty units (i.e. Coronary Care).

“For a community hospital like GBGH to have this designation is quite a testament to our commitment of providing exceptional critical care,” says Gail Hunt, president and CEO, GBGH. “I am very proud of this accomplishment and what it means for our patients. GBGH’s ICU is able to care for some of the most complex and acutely ill patients in our region, providing comprehensive critical care services within our community.”

To be designated a particular level, ICUs must meet specific standards related to respiratory therapy support, ventilator use and intravenous blood pressure monitoring and medication management.

There are five levels for ICU care in Ontario – Level 1, Level 2 Basic, Level 2 Advanced, Level 3 Basic and Level 3 Advanced. Level 3 Advanced is the highest level of ICU care (with Coronary Care Units being an additional specialty designation).

“GBGH has invested in its critical care program over the past three years and the positive progress we’ve made has brought us to this Level 3 basic designation,” says Dr. Khalid Tahir, intensivist and chief of Critical Care, GBGH. “By implementing 24/7 respiratory therapy coverage and continuing to improve the skills of our talented ICU team, we are able to address more serious conditions. There will still be some instances – such as with neurosurgery and cardiovascular care – when we still need to transfer patients to other facilities, but we are well-equipped to care for the majority of our area’s critical care cases here at GBGH.”

In addition to providing a high level of critical care, as a Level 3 Basic ICU, GBGH is more attractive to recruit intensivists and nursing staff who prefer to work in a more acute critical care setting.

Contact:

Jennifer Moore

Communications Officer, GBGH

705-526-1300 ext 5177

moorejen@gbgh.on.ca

GBGH partners with RVH to offer echocardiography services to the community

Photo: Through a partnership between Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) and Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH), patients can now receive echocardiogram services at GBGH, improving their access to care close to home. Patient Ewan Campbell, 73, of Midland received an echocardiogram from RVH cardiac sonographer Tena O’Rourke in preparation for the program’s official launch on October 5.

Local patients are now able to have important cardiac diagnostic procedures completed at their community hospital.

Thanks to a new partnership between Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) and Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) echocardiography services are now available at GBGH. Prior to this partnership, patients from Midland, Penetanguishene, Township of Tiny, Township of Tay and Christian Island were travelling to Barrie or Orillia to receive this service.

An echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart which produces two and three-dimensional images of heart structure and function. This important low-risk imaging procedure can assist in the diagnosis of heart murmurs, valve function, cardiac masses, hypertension and heart disease.

Once the echocardiogram is completed at GBGH, the images will be sent electronically to RVH where a cardiologist will interpret the images to assist in diagnosis.

“In the first year of this partnership, we anticipate nearly 1,100 patients will be able to receive echocardiograms at GBGH, reducing their need to travel out of our area for this service,” says Gail Hunt, president and CEO, GBGH. “We are very pleased to partner with RVH on this initiative based on their depth of experience in cardiac care and for the benefit of providing this important service to our community. Offering echocardiograms at GBGH directly aligns with our strategic priority to grow our programming to align with community needs.”

Starting October 5, the service is provided in GBGH’s Diagnostic Imaging department by an RVH cardiac sonographer. It is available to GBGH inpatients and patients from the community referred by a physician. The service is available Monday, Wednesday and Thursday each week with the potential to increase to five days per week in the future.

“As the regional health centre, RVH is committed to providing exceptional care closer to home through important partnerships like this one with GBGH,” says Janice Skot, president and CEO, RVH. “By leveraging the expertise of RVH’s regional heart program, patients can have great confidence in the skill and accuracy of the diagnostic study, without having to travel for care.”

GBGH and RVH have shared in many successful partnerships over the past three years to improve quality, as well as increase the variety of services GBGH can offer to patients.

 Contact:

Jennifer Moore

Communications Officer, GBGH

705-526-1300 ext 5177

moorejen@gbgh.on.ca

GBGH celebrates Franco-Ontarian Day

Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) celebrated Franco-Ontarian Day on September 25, 2020. This annual event is held province-wide to recognize the unique Francophone history and culture in Ontario. Across province, there at more than 600,000 Franco-Ontarians, making up 4.9% of Ontario’s population.

Members of GBGH’s French Language Services Committee, and GBGH president and CEO Gail Hunt, proudly raised the Franco-Ontarian flag at the hospital to recognize the unique Francophone community the hospital serves. GBGH is proud to have received its partial French Language Services designation in 2017. As part of this designation, the hospital provides information externally in both languages, as well as offers French language service in several departments – Switchboard, Human Resources, Finance, Ambulatory Care.

Contact:

Jennifer Moore

Communications Officer, GBGH

705-526-1300 ext. 5177

moorejen@gbgh.on.ca

GBGH continues gradual expansion of visitation

September 8, 2020 – Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) is continuing to gradually expand hospital visitation to enhance the patient experience. Effective September 8, GBGH is allowing two visitors at a time for inpatients within the set visiting hours of 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. This is an increase from one visitor per patient per day. Inpatient visits will also no longer need to be booked in advance during specific blocks of time.

“We are re-opening visitation in a slow, phased approach to ensure we can maintain the safety of our patients and GBGH team,” says Gail Hunt, president and CEO, GBGH. “The ideal scenario would be to resume unlimited family presence, meaning patients can have visitors 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Unfortunately, that’s just not possible at this time, but this is a positive step forward to ensuring patients can see their loved ones which we know improves their experience and outcomes.”

Emergency department patients may have one visitor remain with them if support is required. Circumstances where support could be required include:

• Pediatric patients – i.e. children under 18 (one guardian permitted with child)
• Language barrier (translation required)
• Mental health/competency/confusion challenges
• Palliative

Patients attending the hospital for scheduled appointments or procedures may have one visitor accompany them if support is required for similar reasons as in the Emergency department (listed above).

All permitted visitors will continue to be screened upon entering the hospital. Any visitor who screens positive for COVID-19 symptoms will be asked to not visit. In exceptional circumstances (such as a support person for a woman in labour, a parent/guardian of a child in the Emergency department or a palliative/end of life patient), a visitor who screens positive for symptoms will be reviewed by GBGH’s infection prevention and control practitioner or hospital coordinator prior to entry.

All visitors must comply with hand hygiene practices, wear a hospital-provided mask and follow physical distancing. Visitors could also be asked to wear additional personal protective equipment as determined by the care team based on a patients’ condition.

Visitor guidelines are subject to change based on the status of the pandemic within the region GBGH serves.

For more information, please visit https://gbgh.on.ca/covid-19-visitor-restrictions/.

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Contact:

Jennifer Moore

Communications Officer, GBGH

705-526-1300 ext 5177

moorejen@gbgh.on.ca

Midland COVID-19 Assessment Centre relocates to GBGH property

August 24, 2020 – Effective Friday, August 28 the Midland COVID-19 Assessment Centre will be moving from its current location at 845 King Street, Midland, to its new location at 1156 St. Andrews Drive, Midland. The new Assessment Centre is located in the clinic building in the Georgian Bay General Hospital’s (GBGH) Midland site parking lot.

The move is happening as the lease on the King Street location finishes at the end of August. That location was chosen as a temporary space due to the urgent need to open an assessment centre in the Midland area in the early stages of the pandemic. With the new location at GBGH, the centre remains easily accessible will not have to re-locate again during the pandemic.

“As it is unknown how long the pandemic will continue, we needed to find a more permanent location for the Assessment Centre,” says Gail Hunt, president and CEO, GBGH. “The partners involved in managing and staffing the centre agreed that using the existing building on GBGH property is ideal as the centre can remain there for as long as it’s needed. We continue to ask people to book an appointment for swabbing so we can maintain safety and physical distancing of other individuals and staff.”

Appointments for swabbing can be booked via phone by calling 705-529-1025. The call centre scheduling appointments is open seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

This assessment centre location has a designated entrance at the back of the building directly accessible from the free parking area, dedicated to those visiting the centre to receive a COVID swab. The parking area can be accessed by entering the GBGH property from the Penetanguishene Road entrance.

The Midland Assessment Centre has swabbed more than 5,000 people since opening March 25, 2020. To date, the centre has been staff by community partners and going forward will continue to be staffed by representatives from GBGH, Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, Centre de Santé Communautaire CHIGAMIK Community Health Centre, Wendat Community Programs and the North Simcoe Family Health Team.

Contact:

Jennifer Moore

Communications Officer, GBGH

705-526-1300 ext 5177

moorejen@gbgh.on.ca

GBGH allows safe, limited visitation to enhance patient experience

New visitation guidelines have been posted at the entrances to Georgian Bay General Hospital.

July 20, 2020 – Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) is re-opening limited visitation at the hospital to enhance the patient experience. Hospitals across the province restricted visitation in mid-March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and at the direction of the Ontario government.

“It is never an easy decision to restrict patients from having visitors while in hospital as we know family presence improves patient outcomes, experience and has safety benefits such as decreasing patient falls,” says Gail Hunt, president and CEO, GBGH. “As we expect the pandemic to continue for months and recognizing the positive impact visitors have on patient safety, we have revised our restrictions to allow for a phased, safe approach to visitation. This decision is based on the status of the pandemic in our area, as well as the benefit to patients and families.”

To ensure visitation can take place safely, precautionary measures remain in place.

Admitted patients are permitted one visitor per day during a scheduled visitation time (see below). The exceptions to one visitor includes visitation for a palliative/actively dying patient. In this case, GBGH will allow up to four visitors at a time, as coordinated with the care team.

The hospital is asking visitors to schedule an admitted patient visitation time by calling the hospital’s main phone line at 705-526-1300. The scheduled times are between 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Emergency department patients may have one visitor remain with them if support is required. Circumstances where support could be required include:

• Pediatric patients – i.e. children under 18 (one guardian permitted with child)
• Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care staff supervising a patient
• Central North Correctional Centre (CNCC) staff guarding an inmate
• Language barrier (translation required)
• Mental health/competency/confusion challenges
• Palliative

Patients attending the hospital for scheduled appointments or procedures may have one visitor accompany them if support is required for similar reasons as in the Emergency department (listed above).

All permitted visitors will be screened upon entering the hospital. Any visitor who screens positive for COVID-19 symptoms will be asked to not visit. In exceptional circumstances (such as a support person for a woman in labour, a parent/guardian of a child in the Emergency department or a palliative/end of life patient), a visitor who screens positive for symptoms will be reviewed by GBGH’s infection prevention and control practitioner or hospital coordinator prior to entry.

All visitors must comply with hand hygiene practices, wear a hospital-provided mask and follow physical distancing. Visitors could also be asked to wear additional personal protective equipment as determined by the care team based on a patients’ condition.

Visitor guidelines are subject to change based on the status of the pandemic within the region GBGH serves.

Virtual visitation options are still encouraged where possible. The hospital is offering patients and families the opportunity to visit virtually via the bedside entertainment systems on its inpatient units (2 North, 2 East). Patients on 1 North are able to virtually visit with family using tablets available to all patients on the unit. GBGH continues to offer free telephone, internet and TV service to enable telephone calls between patients and their loved ones.

For more information, please visit https://gbgh.on.ca/covid-19-visitor-restrictions/.

Contact:

Jennifer Moore

Communications Officer, GBGH

705-526-1300 ext 5177

moorejen@gbgh.on.ca

GBGH readies to resume elective procedures

June 15, 2020 – After spending weeks conducting detailed planning to safely resume some elective surgeries and procedures, Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) has received approval to start some surgeries and diagnostic imaging. The hospital is still awaiting approval of ambulatory care and endoscopy procedures, but anticipates this approval by June 22.

Elective surgeries and procedures were halted in mid-March based on direction from the provincial government due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This action was taken to ensure hospitals could maintain inpatient beds, supplies (personal protective equipment – PPE) and medication to care for a potential surge of COVID-19 patients.

“Although necessary, we recognize this situation has been frustrating for patients whose care was postponed due to COVID,” says Gail Hunt, president and CEO, GBGH. “Hospitals never want to make the difficult decision to delay elective procedures because people have been patiently waiting for their care. Now we must carefully plan how we re-schedule these patients in a timely manner while taking into consideration their condition, enhanced cleaning measures, physical distancing and patient flow through our hospital. Re-opening under these circumstances is a much more complex process than pausing services.”

The resumption of services is based on criteria laid out by the government which must be approved before a hospital can proceed. These include a stable rate of COVID cases in the area, a reliable supply of PPE and medication, having a plan for pre-operative diagnostic testing, and having staff and space to care for patients in the event of a COVID patient surge.

During the past several weeks, GBGH has worked with other hospitals in the region to develop a gradual, staged recovery plan. The first phase of GBGH’s plan focused on resuming surgical and diagnostic imaging procedures. Other procedures will return in the coming weeks as additional approvals are granted.

“GBGH continued performing urgent and emergency procedures during the past three months, but our physicians and staff are eager to return to elective work,” says Dr. Vikram Ralhan, chief of staff and Emergency physician, GBGH. “We know there is a significant backlog in cases and we want to work through these safely and efficiently in the patients’ best interest. Over the coming weeks patients will begin receiving calls to schedule their procedures.”

Patients will have a different experience than they may anticipate when coming to GBGH. The hospital appreciates their cooperation and patience as new precautions could include:

• Changes to the physical environment – how patients enter and travel through the hospital
• Changes to the pre-operative and post-operative process – virtual pre-op appointments, self-isolation for 14 days where feasible and required, recovery
• Safety measures to protect patients and hospital staff – wearing a mask, visitor restrictions

Contact:

Jennifer Moore

Communications Officer, GBGH

705-526-1300 ext 5177

moorejen@gbgh.on.ca