The overcrowding at Windsor Regional Hospital is getting better.
David Musyj, president and CEO, said on Thursday that the Ouellette campus has dropped 10 per cent to 96 per cent capacity and the Met campus is down five per cent to 94 per cent occupancy. He said the ideal occupancy is between 85 per cent and 90 per cent and blames long stays for the high volumes. He said typically the hospital does not see those increases for another month or more when the flu season kicks in.
"What we are seeing is not the typical respiratory issues. We just started seeing over the last couple of weeks more stroke symptoms and more chest pains," said Musyj.
Musyj hopes the situation simmers down before the flu season gets here.
"Hopefully over the next month it reduces until we get into the flu season where we start seeing those respiratory issues," he said.
Musyj said it's never too early to get a flu shot to protect everyone.
"I'm not hearing any original projections with respect to what this flu season should look like. I assume we will start hearing shortly what to expect," Musyj said.
He said 28 extra “surge beds” will be open in November, which is up from 20 last year.
