Cornwall Hospital is prepared for COVID-19

March 12th, 2020 – Cornwall Community Hospital continues to work closely with Public Health, the Ministry of Health and our health care partners ensuring that we have a robust plan to monitor, detect and, if needed, isolate any cases of COVID-19.

“The health and safety of our patients, families and our staff and physicians is our top priority. People can rest assured that our Hospital is prepared to effectively manage the 2019 Novel Coronavirus and to help anyone who may have come into contact with it,” says Jeanette Despatie, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We have infection control policies and procedures in place and have activated additional screening procedures as well.”
The repatriation of Canadian travelers to our city provided the hospital with an opportunity to bring a focus to the situation and prompted us to advance our preparations. We have worked very closely and under the guidance of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit and other Infection Control experts, ensuring that our efforts to protect our staff, physicians and patients are informed by best practice and professional standards.
Preparations at the hospital have included educational opportunities for physicians and staff, additional training personal protection, screening and surveillance measures, the development of new protocols and workflows aimed specifically at protecting against and managing this new virus.

In an effort to ensure the safety of our health care workers and the community at large we ask that anyone coming to the emergency department with respiratory symptoms please wear a mask (available at the Emergency entrance). If you are concerned about possible exposure to COVID-19 please contact Telehealth Ontario at 1 866-797-0000. It is critical that we know in advance if you are coming to the Emergency Department.
We also request that if you are feeling unwell please do not visit patients in the hospital.

If you have questions related to COVID-19 we encourage everyone to seek trusted information sources, specifically the links below:

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html
https://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus
https://eohu.ca/en/my-health/2019-novel-coronavirus