Queensway Carleton Hospital Expands offsite Fairfield Unit
January 27, 2021
To further increase capacity within the hospital, and provide care to more patients in need, Queensway Carleton Hospital has added an additional floor to its offsite unit at the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Kanata. It will open January 28th.
This second floor is another step the hospital has taken as part of its pandemic response, having already opened 28 beds at Fairfield last April and an additional 20 temporary beds inside the hospital. QCH is currently running at 105% capacity. By adding these additional beds, patients will have access to inpatient beds, limiting the need for them to spend additional time in the Emergency Department. It is also expected reduce the number of surgeries that may require cancellation due to lack of inpatient beds.
The Fairfield Inn off-site unit is designed for “Alternate Level of Care” patients -- those whose acute care needs have been met but who cannot return home for a variety of reasons.
“Expanding bed capacity at Fairfield allows our main site to maintain acute care services,” says Dr. Robert Nichols, Chief of Geriatrics. “We have specific criteria to ensure patient care needs can be to meet at Fairfield, with a focus on limiting their exposure to COVID patients, keeping them safe and cared for.”
“Fairfield has had NO patients test positive (a 0% infection rate) for COVID-19 since opening last April,” says Fairfield Site Manager, Kim Schrader. Each patient is swabbed and must test negative before being admitted to Fairfield. The staff who work there are dedicated to that site, further lowering the risk of transmission of COVID. “The staff who work at Fairfield do an amazing job keeping our patients safe. As always, we take patient care very seriously and we make it our priority to ensure exemplary patient care is given to every single patient.”
On average, most patients who are admitted to Fairfield stay for about 94 days. Four patients who were admitted during the first two days of it opening are still receiving care there, over 250+ days later. Since Fairfield opened, it has provided care to over 120 patients, totaling 5,666 patient days.
Roula Athanasoulas’ mother, Toula, is currently receiving care at Fairfield and has been there since it opened. “Mom is doing so much better at Fairfield: it’s a great environment, and we are really happy with the care from the staff. She’s in good spirits and she gets along with everyone – knowing she is safe and cared for at Fairfield is a blessing for us.”
“With this additional floor and the additional temporary beds inside the hospital, we feel we are managing the capacity challenge. Space had been a consistent challenge for patient care in the past,” said Leah Levesque, chief nursing officer. “Now the challenge is finding staff to provide care as a result of more beds being available. There are only so many trained healthcare workers in this region and we all need them – every hospital, long term care home and public health unit. I would like to thank our amazing staff for their commitment – the extra shifts they have taken, the vacation time they have postponed, and for taking on new jobs/roles in in these unfamiliar environments. We have added 92 beds in the hospital since COVID began – as well opening the Moodie Drive Care & Testing Centre. Since we only had 279 beds to begin with, this is a significant increase. This is such a strong and resilient team, and I couldn’t be prouder of them for their commitment and selflessness.”
Queensway Carleton Hospital would like to thank the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Kanata for their partnership and continued support during this pandemic.
Click here for a look inside the expanded unit at Fairfield.
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Media contact:
Kelly Spence
kspence@qch.on.ca