Statement on COVID-19 at HGH

Press Release

Statement on COVID-19 at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital

The Hawkesbury and District General Hospital (HGH) has declared a COVID-19 outbreak on one of its inpatient units. Because of the importance of this infection, the decision to declare an outbreak was made by HGH in collaboration with the Eastern Ontario Health Unit.

The safety and wellbeing of our patients, their families, our team members and their loved ones are paramount to us. We continue to monitor patients for symptoms of COVID-19.

All patients in the inpatient unit in question are isolated and screened for COVID-19. We have communicated with all staff who may have been exposed to COVID-19 and everyone is following the appropriate procedures. Our no-visitors policy remains in effect.

Definition of a COVID-19 Outbreak

The Ontario Ministry of Health has defined a COVID-19 outbreak in a public hospital as:

  • Two or more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases (patients and/or staff) within a specified area (unit/floor/service) within a 14-day period where both cases could have reasonably* acquired their infection in the hospital.

*Examples of reasonably having acquired infection in hospital include:

  • No obvious source of infection outside of the hospital; or
  • Admitted for 5 or more days before symptom onset (based on the median incubation period of the virus).

If you were admitted to the hospital during the period in question, you will be contacted by the Eastern Ontario Public Health Unit. COVID testing is not required for patients that have used our services in ambulatory clinics, surgery, emergency, medical imaging, etc. Please contact Patient Relations at 613-632-1111, ext. 51702 or email patientrelations(a)hgh.ca for any additional enquiries.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Infection Control and Prevention, Occupational Health and Safety teams and all members of the HGH team for their hard work and dedication.

 

For more information please contact :

Édith Jean-Louis
Community Relations Coordinator
Hawkesbury and District General Hospital
Telephone: 613-632-1111, ext. 61005
Email: ejeanlouis(a)hgh.ca