August 27, 2020

COVID TESTING ONLY IN BRACEBRIDGE AS NUMBERS RISE

GRAVENHURST — In the middle of the pandemic, drivers this morning were surprised to learn they were in line at Muskoka’s last drive-through COVID testing pop-up.

Tomorrow the district’s two permanent assessment centre (AC) sites in Bracebridge and Huntsville will also close.

As of Monday, the only location in Muskoka you can be tested for the coronavirus will be a new portable set up behind the hospital in Bracebridge.

And only be making an appointment.

Ontario reported 118 new cases today, up from 88 the day before, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams said this afternoon in a media briefing.

This after more than 8,000 people have been swabbed this summer at the drive-throughs run by Muskoka Paramedics and the permanent testing centres operated by Muskoka’s doctors and nurses with the Ontario Health Team.

As of Tuesday, Aug. 25, they had used 8, 375 swabs.

That number does not include tests at the hospitals or long-term care and retirement homes for the public, residents and staffs.

Each day now more than 100 people are tested at the two assessments centres and that number exceeds more than 200 when Community Paramedics hit the road several more times a week.

So it came as a surprise to Ron and Joanne Kerrigan, who were first in line at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Testing was delayed only 15 minutes due to the threat of rain, said paramedic Darcy Medlan whose team of a half dozen was setting up a pair of tents and starting to take names and health cards.

They are getting tested regularly every two weeks so they can visit a relative in local retirement home.

She has gone through the “easy” testing five times at both the assessment centres and the drive-throughs.

Ron, a retired federal parole office manager in Gravenhurst, too, has been tested a few times.

Shirley Prittie and her son Tom were in the car behind. They came down from Baysville to be tested, so they can visit Shirley’s husband Bob, who is in the Pines.

Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC), which manages the two hospitals, said in a surprise announcement this week that it is “stepping up to oversee future operations of COVID-19 assessment and testing in Muskoka.”

CEO Natalie Bubela says it’s because the OHT (which includes both family health teams) staff were seconded for testing, are returning to their primary care responsibilities.

Janine van den Heuvel, executive director of Huntsville’s Algonquin health team, said provincial health authorities want them to resume the work they were doing at the start of the year before the pandemic blew up.

She told MuskokaTODAY.com that they will be resuming and ramping up a lot of those services that were either virtual or put on hold, such as diabetes clinics, palliative care, child mental health services, pap smears and preventative medicine.

Previously MAHC was a behind the scenes partner leaving the lead roles to the paramedics and the respective Algonquin and Cottage Country Family health teams in north and south Muskoka.

Bubela said: “As of August 28, the COVID-19 testing sites that have operated in Huntsville and Bracebridge since April are closing as the family health teams are no longer able to provide this service and the physical spaces for the assessment centres were of a temporary nature, only available until the end of August.”

She said in a release that MAHC supports the assessment centre model as an important community health service that also relieves pressure on hospital ERs “during this public health crisis.”

“We recognize an assessment centre separate from the emergency department offers the safest, most suitable environment for seeing patients with infectious symptoms that keeps hospital patients safe and provides a dedicated space with appropriate infection control protocols,” says Bubela.

Starting Monday, Aug. 31, one COVID-19 assessment centre to service all of Muskoka will open in a purposely retrofitted outbuilding adjacent to the helipad at the back of the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital (SMMH) property in Bracebridge at 75 Ann St.

Van den Heuvel said since last winter OHT has helped patients virtually, including check-in calls to seniors.

She said, for example, at Algonquin FHT — which has 38 medical staff and personnel — that nurses who worked at the assessment centre in Huntsville were able to staff the ACs.

Their salaries were covered by the OHT.

Physicians are paid separately by the province.

She said the Huntsville AC was staffed each day by three nurses, a doctor and two call centre administrators.

Bubela said the change requires significant transition planning, including doctor and nurse scheduling, staffing, and minor renovations to “ensure a safe and effective operation.”

The one Muskoka Assessment Centre will now provide COVID-19 testing by appointment only Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Appointments can be made by calling the Muskoka Assessment Centre line at 1-888-383-7009.

More detailed information is posted on the MAHC website at www.mahc.ca/COVID-19Testing/, including driving directions and parking instructions for the assessment centre on the SMMH property.