Sudbury recruiting more medical help for ALC patients as hospital deals with overcrowding

Sudbury health teams are hiring.

Kari Gervais, the vice-president of clinical services for St. Joseph's Health Centre, said they are holding a job fair to try and recruit more nurses, registered practical nurses (RPNs,) physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

The new recruits are expected to help at the Clarion Inn health care site, which recently added 30 more beds to the unit.

They're taking in the extra alternate level of care patients as Health Sciences North struggles with overcrowding.

"This is to augment the team that we already have on site at the Clarion Hotel providing care to the 30 patients that we already have here in our hospital unit," Gervais said.

"We do have a full interprofessional team and we're looking to recruit more individuals who are looking to provide rehabilitative care and supportive care alongside the rest of the members of our team."

Gervais said last April thirty beds were created at the hotel.

"It is an unconventional space for a hospital unit, but I think that's one of the important factors of having the job," Gervais said.

"You really want people to experience the difference between a hotel floor and a hospital unit. Our team has worked really hard in conjunction with the team at HSN as well to make sure that it has all of the amenities that a hospital unit has."

"And we've pulled that off," Gervais said. "We've been operating successfully since April on the third floor and we've set the fourth floor up to do the same."

As HSN struggles with overcrowding again, Gervais says the province has approved thirty more beds at the hotel for people to leave hospital and receive supportive care in that setting.

"We are now in preparation for wave two," Gervais said. "We're not sure what that's going to look like yet, and we're also trying to assist our acute care partner with ensuring elective surgeries can proceed as planned."

In order to do that, Gervais said it's necessary to ensure there is room at the acute care site. The doubling of beds at the hotel will free up 30 more beds at the hospital.

"That's definitely up to the hospital how to use that space," Gervais said. "But they definitely do need the flexibility of having space available for the patients who are coming through their doors and creating these extra beds at the Clarion site will do just that."

The unit will now encompass both the third and fourth floors of the hotel.