Ousted Horizon CEO pushed for COVID 'red phase' in hospitals
CBC
The former CEO of Horizon Health wanted to move the province's hospitals back to the "red phase" of COVID-19 measures just days before he was fired from the job.
Dr. John Dornan said in an email on July 11 that "a seventh COVID wave is amongst us," with hospitalizations and staff outbreaks increasing.
A Horizon infectious disease and infection protection control committee was "recommending moving to Hospital Red phase next week if numbers continue to deteriorate," Dornan wrote in the email obtained by CBC News.
Dornan wrote that officials "could make that call collectively on Monday or Tuesday next week," referring to July 18 and 19.
The red phase move never happened, even though the numbers did continue to deteriorate.
The following Tuesday, the two health authorities reported an increase in weekly COVID-19 admissions, active hospitalizations, hospital outbreaks and staff infections between July 10-16.
Dornan was fired July 15.
A major element of red phase protocols would be a ban on routine visitors seeing patients in hospitals.
In his email, the then-CEO said moving to the red phase was "contingent" on Vitalité and Public Health agreeing to it.
But Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell said Wednesday she had no insight into why there was no move to red.
"I don't want to speak for the RHAs. They are the decision-makers in this case, so they're the authority on what happens in their own operations," she said.
Dornan said in the July 11 email it was "probable" Horizon would communicate the possibility of a move to the red phase "publicly this week as a heads up. It is good to be transparent."
That never happened.
At the time of Dornan's firing, Premier Blaine Higgs said a change in leadership was needed to break a "bureaucratic stalemate" in the health system and push forward reforms to address long wait lists and clogged emergency departments.
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