Horizon Nearing Capacity In ICUs: Interim President

Horizon hospitals and health care facilities will return to “red alert level” protocols as of next Wednesday.

It comes as the regional health authority nears capacity in its intensive care units amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Dr. John Dornan, interim president and CEO, said fewer than 20 of its 98 ICU beds were available as of Friday.

“We’re close to the brink,” Dornan told a Horizon Health Network board meeting Friday morning.

As of Thursday, 55 people were in the hospital because of COVID-19, including 31 in intensive care.

Dornan said New Brunswick’s two health authorities, Horizon and Vitalité, have developed a rapid working group to closely monitor ICU capacity across the province.

“We [Horizon] do not have a large amount of available ICUs, but if we look at it provincial-wide, we can move people from one area to another with cooperation,” he said.

Dornan noted that Ambulance New Brunswick has stepped up to help move patients as quickly as possible when needed.

In addition, he said they are looking at ways to get people out of ICUs as soon as possible to avoid reaching capacity.

“What do we do when we reach that? We start to look at post-op recovery areas because they are critical care areas and do we put staff in those areas to help expand our ICU capacity,” said Dornan.

According to the provincial COVID-19 dashboard, there are 142 ICU beds in nine hospitals across the province.

Red alert level changes

Under the red alert level, some non-urgent medical procedures and elective surgeries may be postponed.

Horizon said its goal will be to ensure as many surgeries as possible can continue while maintaining capacity in ICUs and COVID-19 units.

Non-urgent ambulatory outpatient clinics and professional service outpatient appointments may also be postponed, including therapeutic services, blood and specimen collection, diagnostic imaging (X-ray), electrodiagnostics, and respiratory therapy.

“Returning to these Red alert level protocols will allow us to redeploy staff to maintain our emergency services and ICUs, caring for COVID-19 patients and those who are critically ill,” said Dornan.