PHOTOS: Trillium Health Partners building temporary pandemic response unit in Mississauga

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Published April 7, 2020 at 10:04 pm

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Trillium Health Partners (THP) recently announced that it has started constructing a temporary pandemic response unit on the grounds of its Mississauga Hospital (100 Queensway W.) to be able to care for more patients amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Based on Public Health Ontario projections and numbers from other countries, THP has committed to building over 1,000 care spaces to handle the potential influx of COVID-19 patients over the coming weeks. The unit can hold more than 80 patients and will be situated on Mississauga Hospital’s south parking lot. 

The unit is expected to be complete and ready with appropriate supplies and equipment by the end of April. 

THP says it also has the ability to start construction on two more units in the event it needs to respond to surging patient volumes. Combined, all three units would provide as many as 270 additional care spaces. 

Decisions about adding further units will be based on patient demand over the coming weeks, THP says.

The new unit is one part of THP’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan, which also includes the addition of upwards of 100 in-patient care spaces that were created by temporarily closing Queensway Health Centre’s Urgent Care Centre. The plan also includes the addition of 36 new critical care beds at Credit Valley Hospital and Mississauga Hospital. 

To date, THP says it has created about 650 additional care spaces to meet patient demand.

“To protect our community and our people, we have been rapidly ramping up our COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan and taking every action possible to ensure we have the resources available if and when we see a surge in demand for patient care,” said Michelle DiEmanuele, President and CEO, Trillium Health Partners, in a statement. 

“The Premier of Ontario said that all of the interventions that have been put in place have had an impact. Again, we are urging everyone to please stay home and practice good social distancing – actions that will be ever more important to reduce the numbers of patients needing hospital care.”

THP has also postponed all non-essential services and elective surgeries, moved to a temporary no-visitor policy, opened COVID-19 Assessment Centres to support testing, added virtual care options for patients, and enhanced its active screening and health and safety measures across the hospital. 

Public Health Ontario estimates there could be between 12,000 to 80,000 COVID-19 cases province-wide within 30 days.

THP currently has 1,398 beds across three sites, including 100 critical care beds. It says additional patient care spaces will be operationalized as demand for services grows

THP says that Emergency Department and the Urgent Care Centre visits have dropped from a daily average of over 750 to approximately 300 over the last five days.

The organization says 405 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed at its hospitals to date. Fifty patients are currently receiving inpatient care. 

Recently, the Trillium Health Partners Foundation launched a donation drive to encourage the community to donate N95 and surgical masks, hand sanitizer, gloves, isolation gowns, health care-grade disinfectant wipes and baby monitors. 

To donate, click here.

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