Large volume of patients puts Kenora, Ont., hospital in chronic 'Code Surge'

Lake of the Woods District Hospital (LWDH) in Kenora, Ont., has been operating under a “Code Surge” intermittently since November, as a high number of patients continues to put the facility over capacity.

“We've seen the growth in our occupancy of our inpatient units and we've been consistently in a Code Surge for at least a month,” said Cheryl O’Flaherty, the hospital’s president and CEO. 

“Over the last week or so, it's grown to a significant volume of patients and it's now starting to impact other areas of service provision in our hospital.”

About 15,000 people live in Kenora, a northwestern Ontario city located just over 200 kilometres east of Winnipeg.

Its 81-bed hospital serves local residents as well as members of several surrounding communities, including the region’s First Nations.

While there’s no single reason why the hospital’s been seeing greater patient volumes since the fall, it’s important for people to understand what a Code Surge means and what they can do to help, said Chris Ferguson, LWDH’s vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer. 

“It’s really important that patients always know they can come to our emergency department for urgent care or in situations where they feel they need care,” Ferguson said.

That being said, “if there's any other way of accessing primary care for prescription renewals or for care whenever possible, so that they aren't coming to the emerge unless it is necessary, [that] would be greatly appreciated.”

Patients should also expect longer than normal wait times during a Code Surge, she added. 

“I think it's also really important that if their loved one is being discharged from the hospital, if they can help us by making sure that that discharge happens in the morning of the day of discharge whenever possible, so that we free up the bed for the next patient that requires it,” Ferguson said.

One of the ongoing challenges the region’s hospitals are facing is the high number of people occupying inpatient beds who no longer need medical treatment but are waiting for space in a more appropriate setting, such as a long-term care facility or for home care services to be made available. 

These are known as alternate level of care (ALC) patients. 

“Unfortunately at this time, we're having trouble flowing them to those alternative settings,” O’Flaherty said.

“It's just become an extreme situation for our hospital at this time — something that I don't think we've ever seen to this level — but hospitals across the country and across the province are dealing with this.”