Local medical officials air live panel on COVID

By Mark Ribble

REGIONAL — Medical officials from the area hospitals met on Monday in a Facebook Live panel to answer questions and shed some light on the current COVID-19 situation.

Arms Bumanlag, Director of Public Relations and Communications at Erie Shores HealthCare in Leamington, served as the panel moderator.

The panel included Erie Shores HealthCare CEO, Kristin Kennedy, Hotel Dieu Grace CEO Janice Kaffer, Dr. Wassim Saad, Chief of Staff at Windsor Regional Hospital, and Bruce Krauter, Chief of Essex-Windsor EMS.

The panel spoke to the current spike in COVID numbers across the region and how local hospitals are responding to those spikes.

Starting on the ground with the EMS, Krauter said simply, “Paramedics are tired. We’ve been doing this since March and although we had a short reprieve during the first wave, our call volume in Wave 2 is skyrocketing.”

Krauter went on to say that such an increase in COVID calls, takes the EMS away from other life-threatening calls, such as car accidents.

Kaffer, speaking from inside The Villages of St. Clair, where she is currently helping with the outbreak at that Long Term Care Facility, reiterated Krauter’s plea.

“We’ve been working very long hours and staff are genuinely worried about each other,” she said. “Human resources are depleted.”

Kennedy says that community spread is out of control in the Windsor-Essex community right now.

“Community spread is increasing and we’re starting to see the spread among our healthcare workers as well,” she said. “Please stay home.”

The recent panel of medical personnel on Facebook Live was comprised of, top row, from left, Janice Kaffer, Kristin Kennedy, Arms Bumanlag, and bottom row are Bruce Krauter and Dr. Wassim Saad.

Kennedy says that Erie Shores HealthCare is seeing a drastic increase in patients presenting at the Emergency Room with COVID or suspected COVID. They’ve added two more COVID units at the hospital to keep up with demand.

“During the first wave, we were able to get by with just one COVID Unit,” she said. “This past week, we’ve had to add two more.”

And to do that, other hospital beds had to be sacrificed to make room for the COVID patients.

Dr. Saad spoke to the ICU capacity in the hospitals in this region and asked the public to follow the health guidelines to get us through the coming weeks. “Our ICU capacity is at the breaking point,” he said. When asked about PPE and ventilator numbers, there was some good news.

“Thankfully, PPE supply is very good across Canada,” said Dr. Saad. “Ventilators are in good supply across the region.”

The biggest question to the panel was about why people are not doing their part to stop the spread.

“It’s frustrating to see comments on social media,” said Kennedy. “Our plea is that people understand that this is serious.”

“Going out, even with one friend, is not okay right now,” she added. “You have no idea who they’ve come in contact with.”

With the Christmas season just finishing up, Kaffer pointed out that the current numbers this week are reflecting the Christmas gatherings.

“Next week, we’ll see what New Year gatherings produce,” she said.

According to Kennedy, the next four to six weeks could very well be our darkest times with the pandemic.

“Please adhere to practices set out by public health.”

With the vaccine on the horizon, Dr. Saad had some hopeful points.

“The vaccine is our best chance at ending this war,” he said.

The rollout for this region is dictated by the province, according to Dr. Saad and it’s being rolled out in three phases, with Healthcare workers in Long Term Care Facilities getting the first doses, followed by hospital workers and residents of Long Term Care Facilities.

“I expect the general public will not see the vaccine until late summer or toward the end of the year,” he said.

In closing Bruce Krauter, who sees COVID on a daily basis, summed it up best.

“Only go out for groceries, medical appointments and for work,” he said.

The video can be viewed on Erie Shores HealthCare’s YouTube page.