It has only been operating for a week, but operation of the temporary emergency department at Dauphin Regional Health Centre has been smooth.
“Any little challenge that has come up, we’ve been able to quickly work together to find solutions,” said Prairie Mountain Health chief executive officer Treena Slate.
“Thanks to the excellent planning that went into establishing the ER in Dauphin with the concerted efforts of our clinical teams, the physicians and nurses, and support staff and the lab and diagnostic staff, everything has gone very well.”
The idea of temporarily rebooting emergency medical services in the existing space came up late in the process of evaluating options, Slate added, which included evaluating other spaces, as well as the use of trailers and tents.
Once the idea of moving back into the main floor of DRHC was identified, everything came together quickly.
“Our contracting partners informed us that we might be able to access and energize undamaged air handling units on the roof of the emergency department. Once we found out that it was going to be a possibility to use the actual emergency room space, we were very excited about that,” Slate said, adding the advice was received in mid-August.
“We quickly came together to get plans in place to make it happen. So, it’s just tremendous that we were able to achieve that.”
The project was possible due to recent renovations on the emergency department, which included new, dedicated air handling. However, Slate stressed the solution remains a temporary one as much of the infrastructure for that newer part of the building was submerged in flood water in the basement and damaged.
“But fortunately there was several air handling units positioned on top of that newer part that we were able to tie power into,” she said.
“We’re still dealing with temporary power. It’s not generator power, it’s directly from Hydro, but it’s shunted more temporarily into the building than the permanent structures will be. If you look at the outside of the building, you’ll see some cabling going up to the air handling units.
“That was all done in recent weeks. So, it’s just amazing what the electrical engineers were able to accomplish, and the contractors, the construction company, and the mechanical engineering people, as well.”
With this big hurdle out of the way, PMH can now start to focus on returning other services to the community.
Saying she wants it all, right now, Slate knows that is asking a bit much under the circumstances, given the situation.
“We know that there’s limitations, given that we’re dealing with limited power sources and still most of the air handling units for the building were damaged and have to be replaced. So, there’s limited capacity, with what we have and with what was not damaged, what can we do? I think that’s the question right now,” she said.
“We’re looking at what else can be accessed on that main floor space as a starting point. We still need our elevators in service, so that we can access our upper floors. Several of our elevators actually have to be replaced, which is going to take a little while. So we’re looking at all possible solutions.”
Those solutions might included repurposing space on the hospital’s main floor into interim care space, she added.
In the meantime, a mobile CT scanner is on its way and should be operational by the end of the month, however, while the MRI is located on the main floor of the facility, there is not a sufficient enough power supply to get it operational.
“We’re exploring every option and we’ll know more in the weeks to come from the engineers involved on what might be possible. But we definitely want to get that going as soon as we can, for sure,” Slate said.
Work is also underway to move care services such as dialysis and cancer care closer to home, especially considering winter is approaching and travel will be difficult for patients, she said, adding PMH hopes to make some announcements soon.
In the meantime, clean up continues in the crawl space of DRHC, while restoration work is underway in other parts of the basement.
A timeline for the complete reopening of the facility remains elusive.
“But we are working actively with our contractors to get that as soon as we can. We want to know more than anybody what we can open next,” Slate said, adding endoscopy is high on the list of priorities.
“We keep working and haven’t slowed down our pace on this at all just because the emergency department is open. Everything is still in action. We’re still working really hard to get some solutions to open more services as soon as we can,” she said, adding parts are being ordered and will be installed as they arrive.
“I know (having the hospital closed) creates so much concern for folks, especially those who have limited access to transportation. We recognize that and it causes lots of angst for us as a service delivery organization not having all the inpatient bed capacity that we’re used to in Dauphin.
“I just want to reassure the public that all emergency room services that normally were available in the Dauphin ER are available right now in the Dauphin ER.”