There is a major overcrowding problem at Windsor Regional Hospital.
Officials say over the past week, the hospital has been operating at or near 100 per cent capacity.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Vice President of Critical Care, Karen Riddell points to a number of issues for the overcrowding in addition to COVID-19.
"We're seeing a high number of medical admissions so people that have cardiac or renal or lung disease and a myriad of other diseases being admitted that are quite sick an are having very long lengths of stays," she says.
According to Riddell a high number of cardiac cases have come to the hospital in the past couple of weeks.
"I think some of this is fall out from a long period of time of people maybe not accessing or having limited access to healthcare in the community,” she says. “And we’re starting to see the fallout from that."
Riddell says officials have to keep a close eye on the situation because capacity could impact surgeries.
"One of the challenges is with opening up additional beds is we don't have the luxury of having other programs closed down to give us that extra staffing to open up additional in-patient beds,” she says. “It's a complex issue for us right now that we're working on.”
Riddell says they have also seen an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the past two weeks.
— With files from AM800's Kristylee Varley