When visitors to Lambton hospitals were more limited amid COVID-19, Bluewater Health hired people to help guide patients through halls and wards who needed help with mobility, language translation, or had cognitive barriers, the hospital group’s communications chief says.
When visitors to Lambton hospitals were more limited amid COVID-19, Bluewater Health hired people to help guide patients who needed help with mobility, language translation or had cognitive barriers through halls and wards, the hospital group’s communications chief says.
COVID 19-specific dollars funded this gap-filling portering program, as people’s loved ones were kept out of hospitals in a bid to help stall virus and disease spread, Keith Marnoch said.
Amid low COVID-19 numbers in recent weeks, the relaxation of visitor restrictions – to two at a time per patient as of June 22 – and the end of that pandemic funding stream, the portering program is being phased out, Marnoch said.
Waiting room upgrades are underway and expected to finish by the end of July, he said, giving more space for people to sit as plus-ones for outpatient appointments were recently green-lit.
During the earlier days of the pandemic, hospital waiting room seating space was reduced, and the changes planned are essentially restoring capacity to what it once was, Marnoch said.
No cost estimate for that work was immediately available.
“A lot of this is basically going back to normal,” Marnoch said. “That’s where we’re at.”
There were eight people working as porters on any given day during the program’s run, he said.
The total number of people employed through the portering program wasn’t available, as many also did COVID-19 testing and screening work at Bluewater Health during the pandemic, Marnoch said.
“We certainly know it was popular with people. People liked it,” he said about the program. He noted there’s been some reaction to the recent announcement it’ll be phased out.
“But by the same token, there are just as many people who take comfort in being able to be with somebody they know” when they come to hospital, he said.
Inpatients can have a total of four visitors registered, and up to two at a time, hospital officials said in a recent press release, noting visiting hours are 8 am to 8 pm daily.
“In order to maintain the safety of patients and staff, it is important to note that current practices may change or revert back, depending on the level of transmission risk as determined by the (infection prevention and control) committee and provincial recommendations,” the release stated.
Bluewater Health reported zero patients in hospital with confirmed COVID-19 Monday.
Lambton public health’s most recent surveillance report on June 29 indicated an average of five COVID-19 cases per day were reported locally in the preceding seven days.
There were no active outbreaks reported.
The agency has reported 12,009 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in March 2020 and 146 deaths.