At least two COVID-19-positive patients have been transferred from northern B.C. to Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital (RJH).
In a media conference Wednesday, Elin Bjarnason, vice president of South Island clinical operations for Island Health, confirmed that patients have been transferred to the health authority as part of the B.C. Provincial Transport Network (PTN).
“Northern Health was – for a couple of days – their critical care was quite full,” she explained. “Patients do get moved to different locations, typically from Northern Health or the Interior, they may go down to Vancouver and other locations.
“We did lean in and support the provincial health system,” she added. “We’re very proud to be able to help and support B.C.”
RJH is one of two COVID-19 cohort sites, the other being the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. Bjarnason said Jubilee had more critical capacity at that time and took in the patients.
The B.C. Pandemic Provincial Coordination Plan outlines the B.C. PTN as a provincial service that coordinates inter-facility transfers and provides 24/7 clinical oversight to patient transfers.
As of Dec. 2, Northern Health has 240 active cases, 33 of those patients are hospitalized and 12 are in critical care. Island Health has 267 active cases, 14 of which are hospitalized and five are in critical care.
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