Because the Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora, Ont., grapples with a flood that broken 25 per cent of its bodily area, there may be concern that seasonal surges might have an effect on the supply of care.
An “infrastructure failure” on the fourth flooring of the hospital led to in depth water harm all through the ability on Might 6, LWDH officers confirmed in a submit on Fb.
In an replace Wednesday, employees stated all surgical procedures have been cancelled till the top of Might and “efforts are underway to evaluate extra emergency assist choices.” The emergency division stays open.
Assist choices embrace cell medical models, one thing presently being thought-about in co-ordination with Ontario’s Emergency Medical Help Group, and the opportunity of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) getting concerned.
The hospital has not clarified what the function of the CAF could be.
Officers say there may be nonetheless a lot unknown, however full restoration efforts are anticipated to take a number of months.
“Lake of the Woods District Hospital was already experiencing the pressures of working inside an growing old facility that has struggled to satisfy the calls for of a rising group,” an replace from Might 8 said. “This present state of affairs has additional intensified these capability challenges.”
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Summer season can be the time when the variety of folks staying in Kenora swells. As a well-liked cottage vacation spot for these dwelling in Winnipeg and the encompassing areas, town’s inhabitants expands to just about 45,000 — 3 times its unique dimension — in response to town’s 2025 annual report.
The hospital has handled overcapacity points previously. In mid-March, Cheryl O’Flaherty, the hospital’s president and CEO, stated it had been in “code surge” for over a month, which means excessive affected person volumes have been leading to overcapacity.
Throughout a code surge, the hospital says wait instances within the ER could be larger than regular.
LWDH has 81 beds that service the 15,000 folks dwelling in Kenora, in addition to the encompassing communities and the area’s First Nations.
In line with Ontario information on hospital wait instances, sufferers attending the emergency division at LWHD in March needed to wait, on common, 2.4 hours for a primary evaluation from a health care provider, nicely over the Ontario common of 1.8 hours. Sixty-eight p.c of low-urgency sufferers completed their emergency go to inside 4 hours, whereas 85 per cent of high-urgency sufferers have been discharged inside eight hours.
In line with CUPE, over 70 per cent of Ontario hospitals are going through finances deficits, which additional inhibits their capacity to maintain up with increasing populations, particularly in additional distant areas.
A facility situation evaluation undertaken at LWDH in 2021 recognized $53.8 million in deficiencies throughout key hospital programs. Hospital officers say this quantity has been decreased to $37.2 million with assist from the federal government of Ontario.
Final fall, the province additionally renewed its promise to supply $50 million for a brand new hospital in Kenora that might additionally assist deal with the problem of growing old infrastructure. Choose parts of the prevailing hospital date way back to 1929.
The province says the brand new hospital will modernize the ER, increase diagnostic imaging companies and supply Indigenous well being areas. The hospital will even be accompanied by 160 beds on the expanded Wiigwas Elder and Senior Care dwelling.
Within the meantime, hospital employees and their helps are working across the clock to supply care to these in hospital.
Employees say sufferers ought to proceed to attend their scheduled appointments until they’ve been instantly contacted and informed in any other case.
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