Hospitals of Erie St. Clair West moving forward with regional plan

ONTARIO — Now that the Ontario government has lifted its directive issued in March, which restricted elective and non-urgent surgical and clinical procedures, programs and clinics, the hospitals of Erie St. Clair West region are moving forward with a regional plan to safely reopen and reschedule various appointments.

The Erie St. Clair West region includes Bluewater Health in Sarnia, ChathamKent Health Alliance, Windsor Regional Hospital and Erie Shores HealthCare.

This easing of the provincial directive, however, calls for a gradual and incremental implementation of carefully thought-out resumption of scheduled cases.

The hospitals are looking forward to resuming schedules, but are asking the communities to be patient as they take the necessary steps to allow a slow and gradual approach to bringing services back online.

Some services came back on Monday, June 1.

Each hospital has developed a hospital-based plan that was shared and approved regionally and also reviewed by primary care leadership, home and community services, with input from the various patient advisory committees.

The hospital will be sure to compare their findings twice weekly as a region to determine if changes are necessary.

Patients will be notified of opportunities to reschedule surgeries and other appointments. They ask that you do not contact the hospital about your postponed appointment. This includes patients who are waiting for surgery, who will hear from their physician/surgeon’s office.

Resuming scheduled hospital-based care for patients has to be very carefully weighed with the overriding need to ensure Ontario hospitals can maintain capacity to battle any surge in COVID-19 patients.

In the meantime, current COVID-19 policies and procedures, including visitor restrictions, remain in place for each hospital.

The gradual restoration of more elective surgeries will take many weeks, considering the need for pre-operative care that has been on hold for the past three months.

Patients waiting for surgery will hear directly from their physician or surgeon’s office.