The Lake of the Woods District Hospital (LWDH) is developing a plan to address growing surgical wait lists caused by the May flood, while discussions are underway with the province about possible additional funding to support recovery.
During a media scrum held earlier in the week, hospital president and CEO Cheryl O’Flaherty said the disruption to the hospital’s operating rooms has affected some surgical services more than others.
“Our backlog has grown in certain areas, especially in areas of general surgery because we haven’t been able to provide those services, and that is something we’re watching very intently,” O’Flaherty said.
The hospital is working with its surgical services leadership on a recovery strategy and is particularly concerned about the wait lists for general surgery and ophthalmology.
O’Flaherty said she has also spoken directly with Ontario Ministry of Health representatives about additional funding to help reduce those wait lists.
“They are considering how to support our hospital given this is a very unusual circumstance,” she said.
The hospital’s surgical suite has been out of service since the May 6 flood damaged several areas of the building.
Despite the disruption, O’Flaherty said the impact on orthopedic and urology wait lists has been somewhat lessened because patients are part of a regional centralized wait-list system. That has allowed some patients to have their procedures performed at other regional hospitals.
LWDH also reached an agreement with Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) that has allowed Kenora hospital staff and physicians to travel with patients to Thunder Bay for particular procedures.
That arrangement has been in place since early June, with this week expected to be the final week LWDH teams perform procedures in Thunder Bay.
Since the flood, LWDH patients have also been travelling to the likes of Dryden and Winnipeg for care.
At the hospital, two temporary operating rooms have been running since early June. One has primarily been used for obstetrical emergencies, while the other has handled minor procedures and other emergency general surgery cases.
O’Flaherty said one of those spaces has also been used for procedures such as endoscopies.
“We’ve done quite a number of those procedures over the course of the past three months, which has really helped address the wait list for those,” she said.
Creating one of the temporary operating rooms came with a trade-off elsewhere in the hospital. Two second-floor inpatient beds had to be closed to accommodate the temporary OR.
“We’ve just made it work internally, but we will be looking forward to getting those rooms back as we look towards the winter respiratory season coming our way in the near future,” O’Flaherty said.
The hospital expects its permanent operating rooms to be back in service sometime in December.
Anthony Sharp, LWDH vice president of operations, said restoration crews have been working seven days a week on the surgical area, which is more complicated to rebuild than other parts of the hospital because its temperature, humidity and airflow must all be controlled.
The second floor and surgical services have been given priority, while restoration of affected areas on the third and fourth floors will continue into the new year. Sharp said those areas are primarily offices and clinical office space, not patient areas.
The hospital has also made changes intended to reduce the risk of a similar incident causing such widespread damage in the future.
Sharp said the hospital’s age and infrastructure complicated the response when the pipe broke. Shutting down the building’s water required staff to follow a specific sequence to protect equipment, including the MRI, CT and equipment used in chemotherapy.
Staff had the water shut down within about 30 minutes, but Sharp said approximately one whole quarter of the hospital was affected during that time.
Since the flood, 28 emergency valves have been installed throughout the hospital, allowing sections of the building to be isolated more quickly if another problem occurs. The hospital is also investigating whether it could eventually automate the system.
“It did identify for us the need to put in a number of new systems in order to isolate parts of the building more quickly,” Sharp said.
Sharp said the hospital’s insurance policy is covering expenses incurred as a result of the flood. That includes restoring the damaged areas, as well as costs associated with providing services elsewhere while the surgical suite is unavailable.
O’Flaherty said the insurance claim also covers travel costs for LWDH physicians and staff working outside Kenora. Patients travelling for care can access assistance through the Northern Health Travel Grant.
