13 local Rotarians and 4 Guests attended. Our guests included PDG Don Watkins (RC of Peterborough-Kawartha), ADG Brenda Waugh, Gloria Aykroyd, and Rachel Parker.
Our speaker today was Rotarian Dr. Mohamed Abdalla, Chief of Intensive Care at TDMH. Mohamed thanked everyone in the community for their support during the Covid-19 pandemic. He advised us that there is now a Covid Screening Centre located at 17 Bear St. but by appointment only. Anyone who is concerned about exposure and wants to be tested can call and arrange an appointment. The Hospital is testing everyone who enters as a patient for Covid.
Re-opening the Hospital to normal care again will be a gradual process. At present, the Outpatient Services are closed and he is seeing patients virtually. The LHIN has addressed re-opening and if there is an increase in cases, then society will have to close again until the number of cases declines. Social distancing has helped a lot but if only 55-65% of people comply with it, the number of cases will increase again. So it is important to continue to keep our distance from one another.
Dr. Abdalla noted that as a result of the pandemic and isolation measures, the In Patient population dropped to 30% of normal and the Emergency Room was much less busy. In some cases, patients who needed to seek hospital care had delayed attending because of fear of the Covid virus. In some instances, this led to serious illnesses not being addressed as soon as they should have been.
The Hospital Staff had to develop protocols for working with patients to keep the Staff safe and yet provide necessary treatment. They made plans to expand the ICU spaces and to re-train OR nurses to staff the ICU if needed.
Dr. Abdalla answered a number of questions. He said that although no one knows for certain what long term sequellae may occur in recovered Covid patients, there may well be long lasting effects from the illness. He also noted the effect on the healthcare workers from stress and mentioned psychological effects and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
Work Party: There is a work party at Memorial Park on Saturday morning in two groups of 5 each beginning at 8:30-9:30 and 10:00-11:00. We will be cleaning up brush and watering our tree nursery.
Report from the Board of Directors Meeting:
The Club will donate $6500 to the Helping Hand Food Bank