​Tony Ortiz with his full face mask on waits for patients to arrive at the Brewer arena assessment centre. WAYNE CUDDINGTON / POSTMEDIA

By: Andrew Duffy, Elizabeth Payne, The Ottawa Citizen

Medical authorities are rapidly reorganizing Ottawa area hospitals — emptying beds, expanding capacity and co-ordinating services — in preparation for a wave of COVID-19 patients that’s expected to severely test the region’s health-care system.

The Champlain region’s 20 hospitals, from Cornwall to Deep River, will work together to manage the crisis.

Triaged COVID-19 patients will be sent by a central command centre to the hospital best able to meet their needs. Eight hospitals have been designated as critical care sites: The Ottawa Hospital (Civic and General campuses), the Queensway-Carleton, Montfort, CHEO, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Pembroke Regional Hospital and Cornwall Regional Hospital.

Unprecedented measures are also being discussed, including field hospitals, as part of a complex planning process that encompasses a wide range of pandemic scenarios.

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