St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital has reported its first death as a result of COVID-19. The hospital says the patient was a female in her late 80s with no recent travel history. The woman was a resident of West Lorne and lived in a small apartment unit in that municipality. She had been in contact with a couple who recently had returned from the U.S. STEGH does report that their health care team followed appropriate infection control protocols and practices throughout the patient’s treatment, including appropriate patient isolation and personal protective equipment.
STEGH says they are continuing to make the safety of its patients, staff and physicians a top priority with the many new measures that have been implemented as a result of COVID-19, including:
· Ramping down all non-essential activity including elective surgeries and other non-emergent clinical activity, to help build capacity;
· Restricting all visitors, with limited exceptions on a case-by-case basis;
· Reducing the number of entrances for staff and patients and actively screening everyone that enters the hospital;
· Adhering to strict provincial safety requirements for Personal Protective Equipment;
· Erecting tented areas outside of the Emergency Department to provide additional space for triage before patients enter the Emergency Department.
The hospital reminds everyone that as the number of cases in neighbouring communities continues to grow, it is important that we continue follow the advice of Public Health Ontario, including social distancing, frequent hand washing, avoiding unnecessary trips out of the house, and self-isolation after out-of-country travel or contact with a known or probable case of COVID-19.
