Hospital committed to seniors, catching up on backlogged surgeries, president says

“We have a strong commitment to supporting our older adults.”

That from Wendy Hansson, Sault Area Hospital (SAH) president and CEO, addressing the hospital’s board of directors at its monthly meeting held virtually Monday.

In her Year in Review report, Hansson said SAH has moved to 24/7 on-call emergency coverage at its cardiac catheterization lab (where procedures such as an angiogram, angioplasty and pacemaker implantation are carried out for senior heart patients as well as younger patients).

“Our partners from St. Mike’s Hospital (in Toronto) did commit to an on-call schedule to ensure there were no service interruptions.”

“What this means is now if you’re in need of a PCI (angioplasty) emergent procedure, you will be assured within Sault Area Hospital that you will receive that care and not have to leave our community. It’s a celebration of all of our cardio team and partners that have brought that to fruition,” Hansson said.

SAH has also marked the creation of an Algoma Seniors Telephone Outreach Program (ASTOP).

“Since the onset of the pandemic, we have all, in our own personal lives and professional lives, been faced with isolation to some degree and our geriatric patients are certainly no different,” Hansson said.

SAH Volunteer Resources and Geriatric Services teamed up to launch ASTOP by making weekly friendly phone calls to seniors suffering from isolation due to the pandemic.

Hansson reported that SAH volunteers have, so far, put in over 260 hours of service in the ASTOP program.

The president said the hospital, as part of its strategy in caring for seniors, has recently launched a ‘Nurses Improving Care for Health system Elders’ (NICHE) program.

Hansson said NICHE concentrates on all aspects of geriatric care, including, for example, a ‘least restraint’ program for senior patients afflicted with delirium and dementia.

Hansson said NICHE is a recognized program for geriatric care provided by New York University which has been adopted virtually by SAH.

“One of the areas of focus has been around long term care capacity and we continue to work with the province around the licensing for the provision of long term care beds. Certainly the long term care sector and our older adults have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 so we’re all collectively, as a system, taking those learnings to determine how we can provide the highest and safe standards of care to that (senior) population that we serve within the community and with our hospital.”

Not surprisingly, most of Hansson’s Year in Review address to the board revolved around the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Every process, every procedure, every space, every function within the organization has been changed, or will be changed, as we go forward into the future.”

“Thanks to the commitment and the skill and the hard work of everyone at the hospital we are really proud as we reflect on the past year to highlight that since the start of the pandemic we have had no COVID outbreaks at Sault Area Hospital,” Hansson said.

Throughout the pandemic, SAH’s ICU has received patients from southern Ontario and Manitoba to relieve pressure on ICUs in those areas.

"Sault Area Hospital has received 19 patients from outside Algoma. Four patients are from Manitoba and 16 are from northwestern, northeastern or southern Ontario. Not all patients transferred to SAH were patients diagnosed with COVID-19. At this time five patients transferred from outside Algoma continue to receive care at SAH," wrote SAH spokesperson Brandy Sharp Young in a follow up email to SooToday.

As far as COVID-19 vaccinations among SAH staff are concerned, Hansson said “to date we have provided in house over 4,000 vaccines and it’s still unfolding, our teams currently receiving the second dose.”

Hansson said SAH will concentrate on beginning to recover the number of surgeries and procedures put on hold, as well as addressing other illnesses which may have worsened in patients, due to the pandemic.