Huron Expositor, 2009-02-11, Page 2Page
The Huron Expositor • February 11, 2009
News
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Seaforth hospital prepares for overnight ER closure
From Page 1 .
Hospital's ER began closing from 8
p.m. to 8 a.m., CPH site administra-
tor Bonnie Royal said the Clinton
hospital would be monitoring the de-
mand.
"There is no way to predict the
impact. It depends where people de-
cided to go," she said, adding that
Minton would not be the* only des-
tination of Seaforth-area patients
seeking emergency care during the
nighttime hours.
"Clinton won't be the only hospital.
impacted. 1 imagine Mitchell -area
patients ; might travel to Stratford.
and Brussels -area patients might go
to Listowel," she said.
Royal said there will be no increase
to the staff at Clinton's ER and dis-
cussions have happened among doc-
tors about how to handle the patients
that do arrive in Clinton. •
"There has been communication
between partners as much as pos-
sible to make the transition as seam-
less as possible. The plan has been
• given a lot of thought," she said.
With many people in community
wondering about the qualifications
of ER nurses and why they are cliff
-
cult to find, Cardinal says ER nurses
.generally need to take another year
and a half to complete the necessary
courses on top of their RN ca-
tions.
As well, nurses usually need at
least two years' experience in emer-
gency before having the skills and
comfort to work at a small hospital
• like Seaforth's where they might be
expected to work alone.
The qualifications, which are post-
ed on the Huron Perth Healthcare
Alliance's website at www.hpha.
ca underjob opportunities,inciude
specialized skills' ,in paediatric and
adult assessment, including triage,
ECG interpretation, Advanced . Car-
diac Life Support (ACLS), Emer-
gency Trauma Life Support (ETLS),
Advance Paediatric Life Support
(APLS) or Paediatric Advance Life
Support (PALS) and Trauma Man-
agement.
Preferred training includes a Trau-
ma Nursing Critical Care (TNCC)
course, a Canadian Emergency De-
partment Triage and : Acuity Scale
and an Emergency Nursing Certifi-
cate (ENC). •
Cardinal, says she's received one
phone call from an ER nurse "from
quite a .way away" thinking of relo-
cating to the area but adds that it
could take some. : e for that to ha
pen.tq
"We absolutely lope this is Ya short-.
term thing and we want anyone
'call. with their questions -or their in-
formation about friends who happen
to be nurses=" she says. ,A)
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