COVID-19 GGH Update May 27
How to give feedback
- Speak to your manager or director
- Ask your leader to bring forward an idea or concern to the COVID-19 Incident Management Team
- covidquestions@gghorg.ca
- What’s on your mind? (only works if you’re within the hospital)
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Action/must read (0)
What’s New? (1)
Resources and Supplies (1)
Staff Support (0)
Other (0)
Starting with the positive…
Thank you so much for working day and night so people who get sick can feel better. You are our HERO, I don’t know what we would do without you.
THANK YOU
Love, Jacob
Reporting on COVID-19 activity in staff and patients
| Total number of staff tested to date | 286 |
| Total number of staff with a negative test result to date | 253 |
| Current number of staff with a positive test | 2 |
| Number of staff results pending | 3 |
| Number of staff who tested positive and are now recovered | 28 |
| Total number of staff with a positive test result to date | 30 |
| Number of current in-patients who have tested positive | 3 |
Action/Must read
What’s new?
On May 7, the Ontario government released a framework to guide hospitals in their planning for the gradual resumption of scheduled surgeries and procedures while maintaining capacity to respond to COVID-19. Timelines will vary from hospital to hospital and be conditional on approval by regional oversight tables involved with planning and coordinating Ontario’s response to COVID-19.
Since then, planning at GGH for the reintroduction of services is moving forward at a furious pace. Twenty planning and working groups have been have been fashioned to review best practices, current and future state and local support and recommendations. The complexity of the challenge is unprecedented.
The developing plan must meet a lengthy list of conditions. Once draft plans are in place they will have to go through a multi-step review and approval process both locally and regionally. As with all pandemic planning, our plans are being developed in collaboration with our regional and community partners. In addition, our Patient and Family Advisory Committee will be consulted.
Over the next 12-24 months we anticipate services will be reintroduced in stages and perhaps in a series of starts and stops as we adjust to Government direction. The reality is, services will return to a new normal and we will need to think and plan very differently than we have in the past.
Last night, the government’s Directive #2 was revised. It now allows hospitals to ramp up services as guided by its updated, 15-page, “COVID-19 Operational Requirements Health Sector Restart” document. Things are changing quickly and as new information becomes available it will be shared widely.
Resources and Supplies
Review of Hand Sanitizer
GGH has conducted a thorough review of our hand sanitizers after learning that a manufacturer of hand sanitizer had changed the standard alcohol used in their product to what is called a “technical grade” of ethanol. This new product included a health hazard warning.
After a thorough review and investigation of the products we use at GGH, including both our regular stock and donated stock, we were able to confirm that this product has not and is not being used at GGH. All our hand sanitizer products use a food grade ethanol, including our donated stock. There are no safety concerns, or changes in the use of the hand sanitizer product being used at GGH.