University Hospital of Northern BC designated as a Covid-19 care site: what it means

The University Hospital of Northern BC has been named one of three primary care facilities for COVID-19 in the Northern Health Authority.

Along with Mills Memorial Hospital in Terrace, and Fort St. John Hospital, these sites are tasked with taking care of coronavirus patients in the region should the number of patients increase.

“It’s important to realize that this is the planning and strategy for if and when we move towards a certain trajectory of cases,” said spokesperson Eryn Collins.

“The fact that UNHBC and the other two in the north have been made into primary care sites does not mean, at this point, that anything has changed with respect to the care that those sites provide,” she added.

If the number of cases was to go up dramatically, Collins says all hospitals would be pulled into the situation.

The three hospitals have been charged to look after the most critically ill patients in the region.

The rest of the strategy involves potentially moving patients around the region based on the type and level of care needed.

“At this point, I think it’s really important to tell people that if you currently have an urgent need for care then you need to call 911 as you normally would do, or go to your nearest emergency department for care,” said Collins.

“We are getting some questions from people, like ‘my hospital has been designated as a COVID hospital, does that mean if I break my arm right now I have to go to the next one over?’ and that’s not the case. This is all part of the strategy and the plans that are in place if we move into a situation where it’s needed,” she added.

As of April 5th, there are 21 cases of COVID-19 in Northern Health, and 1,203 province-wide with 149 people in hospital in BC.

There are 17 designated COVID-19 hospitals in the province, view below.

BC Critical Care and Acute Care Hospitalization Modelling