Military members begin first shift at Sunnybrook field hospital today

By Michael Ranger, News Staff

Members of the military will begin their first shift in Sunnybrook Hospital’s field hospital on Friday.

A total of 34 personnel from the Joint Task Force Central are being brought in to help support the mobile health unit at the Toronto hospital.

The field hospital, set up in a parking lot at the north end of Sunnybrook’s Bayview campus has the capacity for up to 84 patients who are recovered or nearly-recovered from COVID-19.

Currently six patients have been moved to this site, with another two expected to arrive Friday.

Sunnybrook said they would have a total of 20 beds in the mobile unit available by the end of April. The beds are being used for COVID-19 patients who are recovering or have recovered and are awaiting to go home or to be transitioned to an alternative care setting.

Each tent set up contains eight to ten beds ready to handle patients and, in total, the field hospital will be able to handle up to 100 patients.


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The Toronto Western Hospital and Toronto General Hospital, both part of the University Health Network (UHN), have also set up large tents to serve as additional patient waiting areas to help reduce crowding in their emergency departments.

The federal government approved a request from Ontario for military assistance and support in dealing with a surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

The Canadian Armed Forces sent in reconnaissance teams earlier this week to assess specific needs in certain hot spots.

The latest pandemic modelling released by the province’s science table shows some positive developments and trends, however ICU occupancy remains at a record high with the modelling suggesting the health care system will remain strained for weeks to come.

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