gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
Alberta Health Services says that there are no concerns about patient volume at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital at the moment.
“We are currently not experiencing any capacity issues,” said a spokesperson. “Ensuring AHS has the capacity to provide safe, high-quality patient care has been a priority since the pandemic started 10 months ago.”
The spokesperson says the current number of patients is similar to other years in the run-up to Christmas and the same can be said for the emergency department.
“… we are currently able to meet patient demand,” he said.
The number of COVID patients needing hospitalization continues to increase across the province though.
“AHS South zone has contingency plans in place to ensure beds are available if needed, to provide care for all patients in need,” the spokesperson said.
Those preparations include making sure there is enough staff, equipment and supplies if there is a sudden increase experienced.
The impact of COVID on non-urgent surgeries and ambulatory procedures has been minimized in the south zone with most proceeding as scheduled, the spokesperson said.
According to numbers available Monday, there were nine COVID patients in hospital in the South. MHRH had two of those and one was in ICU. Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge had seven and one of those was in ICU.
