INVISTA Centre selected for Kingston’s alternate health facility

MEDIA RELEASE

Kingston, ON – April 22, 2020 – Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) and Kingston, Frontenac Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) Public Health have worked with the City of Kingston to identify the INVISTA Centre as the location for an alternate health facility, should there be a potential need for it during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Whenever possible, we are staying one step ahead of the evolving pandemic, and this step involves working with our partners to plan for a facility that will give us the space we may need if there is a surge of patients with COVID-19,” said Dr. David Pichora, president and CEO of KHSC.

KHSC is among other health-care organizations across the province that Ontario Health has tasked to create plans for alternate health facilities such as field hospitals. Constructing the health facility at the INVISTA Centre will only begin once the plan being worked on with Infrastructure Ontario has been approved by Ontario Health and a potential need has been identified.

"While there have only been a few people in our region who have needed hospital care for COVID-19, that could change quickly and we need to be ready," said Dr. Kieran Moore, Medical Officer of Health for the KFL&A Public Health. “This dynamic public health crisis requires constant preparation. While we hope for the best we must plan for the worst-case scenarios such as large outbreaks affecting our most vulnerable populations.”

Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Providence Care have already worked together to identify additional bed capacity within the existing system to accommodate an increase in patients needing hospital-level care for COVID-19. Some of this capacity was created by delaying scheduled, less-urgent surgeries and procedures.

“By planning for this alternate health facility, we are also ensuring that we have the capacity to provide non-COVID-related complex, acute and specialty care for the south east region, and to safely resume providing the necessary care people need for their optimal health,” said Dr. Pichora.

“We are honoured to contribute to pandemic preparations by making this space available to help ensure our local health-care system has the capacity required to provide the care people need,” says Bryan Paterson, Mayor of Kingston. "It’s fitting that our community has used the INVISTA Centre for over a decade to foster health and wellbeing, and now it may be used to help residents recover their health."

Once the planning phase is complete, health partners will have a better understanding of the number of hospital beds that may be needed and what populations may be cared for at the location as well as how long the facility will need to remain at the INVISTA Centre if it is built.