LHSC constructing COVID-19 field hospital
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is taking steps to augment its facility to handle an influx of COVID-19 patients.
The hospital announced on April 3 that renovation work is underway to transform the Western Fair District Agriplex into a temporary off-site hospital. This work is being undertaken in partnership with the Western Fair District and the City of London and is part of the south west Ontario region’s pandemic response plan.
This facility will be an extension of LHSC and will be managed by LHSC. It wil activate only when the hospital needs the additional capacity. Initially, it is intended to be used as a transfer facility for patients who are recovering from COVID-19, but not yet well enough to be discharged home.
The facility will open as a 180-bed unit, and has the capacity to expand to 500 beds.
The news to expand the hospital’s capacity comes on the heels of provincial-government projections suggesting that as many as 15,000 people could die from COVID-19 before the pandemic ends. Moreover, the province indicated that by the end of April, as many as 1,600 Ontarians could have died from the virus.
As a result, Premier Doug Ford greatly reduced the list of essential services permitted to remain open during the pandemic. Work on most non-residential construction sites was ordered to a halt. Activity on those sites supporting critical infrastructure—such as healthcare—will be permitted to continue.
London is the latest in a growing list of Ontario cities that have built temporary medical centres to deal with projected influxes of COVID-19 patients. Work is underway at a facility that will add 93 beds at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington. Windsor Regional Hospital is converting part of the recreation facility at St. Clair’s College to accommodate 100 non-critical COVID-19 patients, and the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound is being converted into a temporary, 75-bed facility.