It still has that new hospital smell. 

But on Nov. 23, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) in Barrie will open the first 23 of 70 beds in a $10-million pandemic response unit. This fully-functioning, four-season field hospital will be available to in-patients who are medically stable and three to five days away from being discharged. It is not intended as a facility to treat patients who test positive for COVID-19 — those folks will be placed in isolation rooms located within RVH.

“This is a temporary structure during a marathon of a pandemic,” RVH president and chief executive officer Janice Skot said. “It is going to be used. Our plan is not to put COVID-positive patients in here. Our plan is to have more medical-type patients here so that we free up beds in the acute care system where there are single beds and bathrooms. It’s really important the public understand that.”

Eight patients who tested positive for COVID-19 have died at RVH during the pandemic. The hospital is currently treating 12 in-patients for the virus.

The 8,250-square-foot structure was erected in about nine weeks. It’ll cost nearly $6 million to operate between now and the end of March. 

However, the unit is one of three such facilities across the province and any of the region’s seven hospitals can transfer patients here when they experience capacity issues. 

“As our hospitals ramp up surgeries and procedures that were paused in mid-March, our occupancy rates are increasing,” Georgian Bay General Hospital president and chief executive officer Gail Hunt said. “Meanwhile, we’re facing a perfect storm; a collision between wave two of the pandemic and the looming flu season. Having these beds available means our patients can finish their recovery and then safely return to their home communities.”

Each patient within the unit will be provided a standard hospital bed, over-bed table, dimming lights, call bell and power outlet. Patient ‘rooms’ have three walls and a privacy curtain. Meals will be delivered bedside.

There are 10 toilets and a shower room built into the unit as well.

The team overseeing the operation is described as “no different” than any other throughout RVH, with doctors, nurses, dieticians, pharmacists, therapists, clerks and social workers on hand.

“It really situates us well to deal with a surge,” Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit medical officer of health Dr. Charles Gardner said. “It helps to prevent the system from tipping into crisis.”

Skot said the unit “has limitations” but the hospital itself is well-prepared to take a leading role among health-care providers during the COVID-19 crisis.

“We have the equipment, the expertise and the bed capacity needed to battle the pandemic,” she said. “This is a regional asset. As you see COVID cases spike, residents of this region can be confident we have the capacity to care for them. We see a vaccine in sight in 2021. Therefore, there may not be a need for the unit a year from now. It is this insurance policy that will get us through this winter, the vaccine and a very uncertain future. There’s no one asking us to take it down; it’ll just depend on the need.”