Beginning this week, Pembroke Regional Hospital will be deferring all elective inpatient surgeries. The move was made by Ontario Health and PRH officials say the direction reflects the seriousness of the pandemic and in particular the rising rates of cases and variants of concern throughout the province, including the Ottawa area. Dr. Tom Hurley, Chief of Staff at PRH says this will help free up hospital staff.
Dr. Hurley also says that the hospital is not overrun.
The Chief of Staff is reminding residents that if you do have symptoms of the virus, you are asked to contact the RC VTAC.
“We want to assure Renfrew County residents that at this time, while elective inpatient surgeries are being deferred, the rest of our hospital services will continue to be offered and will not be impacted at this time, said PRH President and CEO Pierre Noel.
Sabine Mersmann, Senior Vice-President of Clinical and Support Services – Partnerships and Integration, noted that where possible, and as a way of supporting the current stay-at-home order, some hospital services that have the ability to transition to a virtual delivery method may do so and that in these cases patients will be also be notified.