Ontario ICU closed for a month has no date set to reopen
A month after an Ontario intensive care unit temporarily closed due to a “significant staff shortage,” the hospital has no timeline for when the ICU will re-open its doors.
On July 28, Lakeridge Health said it made the “difficult decision” to temporarily relocate Bowmanville Hospital’s ICU and relocate care to the Ajax Pickering and Oshawa Hospitals.
“We have restored some critical care nursing services at the Bowmanville Hospital, and we continue to work diligently to stabilize staffing in order to fully return services in the ICU,” Lakeridge spokesperson Sharon Navarro told CTV News Toronto on Wednesday.
This comes as the Ontario government released the next phase of its "Plan to Stay Open" on Thursday, ahead of an anticipated rise in respiratory illnesses in the coming months.
Despite the consolidation of care in Bowmanville, Navarro said there have been no interruptions to services at the hospital’s emergency department and a critical care physician has remained onsite throughout this transition period.
In the days ahead, she said the situation will be closely monitored and further updates will be announced to the community as soon as they are available.
“We recognize the impact this situation has had on our staff, patients, and their families. We are so grateful to the staff and physicians who are now providing these critical care services, as well as those who are working tirelessly to ensure adequate staffing to safely return all services as soon as possible,” Navarro said.
“We also appreciate the patience, cooperation, and understanding of the Durham Region community during this extremely challenging time.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.