With consistently high volumes at its assessment centre at its Ouellette Campus, Windsor Regional Hospital has the approval to open a second centre at its Met Campus.
Ontario Health signed off on it, but CEO David Musyj said the announcement did not come with a funding figure.
"It's in the mail," he said. "During COVID, you're not going to get any guaranteed funding in advance. It's understood that you need to do what you need to do. You worry about the funding after the fact."
Musyj said the hospital would track those expenses and submit them later to the Ministry of Health for reimbursement.
The new assessment centre will be near the emergency department at the Met Campus. It should open by late August.
"There will be a modular unit that will come on-site. We will get it equipped," Musyj explained.
The daily number of people visiting the centre at the Ouellette Campus have numbered in the hundreds. On July 20, 452 people came out for testing. Since March, almost 20,000 people have been swabbed for the virus at that one location.
"Especially since they put into place the requirement to be swabbed to be able to visit your loved one in long-term care or retirement home," explained Musyj. "As well as now, we have to swab patients in advance of their surgeries."
The hospital is still playing catch up after postponing all elective procedures and surgeries earlier in the pandemic, and Musyj admitted it has been challenging to accommodate everyone.
"We're probably approximately at 60 or 65 per cent of our pre-COVID capacity," he said, noting many of the patients coming to the hospital are sicker. "What we're seeing is a big demand for medicine patients who are having to be admitted from the emergency department as well as longer lengths of stay, meaning their acuity is higher."
