Guelph General Hospital hopes to provide better to service to patients who come to the emergency department and more protection for its nurses with the addition of safe rooms.
But until construction is complete in early August, expect longer waits in the E.R., says Kim Crawford, Director Emergency Department.
Crawford said one main hall in the department and several rooms that run off it are essentially closed during the renovation.
“We’re very cramped now,” she said. “And the waits will be a bit longer. We tried to schedule construction when we are less busy but there are not many days when we’re not busy.”
Crawford said the E.R. used to average 150 patients a day and considered 180 patients a busy day. Now 180 patients a day is the norm, she said, sometimes creeping up to 200 patients a day.
The safe rooms will be used for all patients, but if a mental health patient presents in crisis or if a patient is on drugs and potentially violent, the safe rooms are separated from the other treatment rooms with minimal furnishings and distractions.
“They allow someone having a psychosis the chance to de-escalate in a protected environment. And the nurses are protected too,” Crawford said. “Without the safe rooms we’ve had to use restraints and we want to avoid that.”
Crawford said a busy emergency department, with noise and people and bright lights and bustling activity, is not the best environment for someone with mental health concerns. The safe rooms are private, quiet and separated from other treatment rooms.
Work on the three new rooms began in April and is expected to be complete after the August long weekend.
“While they’re being built, ED staff will be trained in how to properly use the rooms so staff are ready to go come August,” hospital spokesperson Perry Hagerman wrote in an email.
Crawford said the hospital was already exploring ways to improve care for mental health patients and that these improvements have nothing to do with the death of Brandon Duncan, who was shot dead by police in May 2015 in Guelph General’s emergency department.
Duncan was in distress and brandished a pair of scissors, which he attempted to use on a female patient in the E.R. Two officers ordered Duncan to put down the scissors and retreat but he continued towards the officers.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit cleared the police officers of any wrongdoing and Crawford said safe rooms in the hospital would have had no impact in Duncan’s case.
“This is totally unrelated to Brandon Duncan,” she said. “Having safe rooms would not have helped that situation.
“But a lot of our patients are on crystal meth or other drugs and that will be the primary use of the safe rooms.”
Crawford said it is while trying to restrain patients that nurses and other personnel are often injured. The safe rooms will protect them too, she said.
