The bus rollover just outside of Chatham over the long weekend sent 26 people to the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA).
The extent of the injuries hasn't been shared, but fortunately, no one died as a result of the rollover.
According to Caen Suni, Vice President, Clinical Operations, with CKHA, this was one of the rarest events the hospital has ever dealt with, as they were forced to issue an orange alert.
These alerts on their own are rare, but what made this event rarer was the fact they had to upgrade it to a major alert, something that hadn't been done in a few decades.
"Typically, they happen when multiple things happen at once: a multi-vehicle collision, a house fire, and something else, for example, and the emergency department is already busy. So we go into that minor setting to clear things out," said Suni.
In most situations, the emergency department's own staff can handle the influx of patients, but the 26 people who came in from the rollover were too many for them to support on their own.
Six additional doctors, one from a different department and five on their day off, rushed to the hospital to support the patients. Other healthcare professionals and CKHA leadership either came in on their day off or came from a different department to help.
Although the situation was extremely rare, Suni explained that staff were well prepared because they recently took part in a simulated exercise.
"We had an event with people essentially acting, pretending to be injured. Our EMS partners were involved, so they were literally picking up patients, bringing them to the ED, and we simulated this code occurring," he added.
Meanwhile, the hospital still helped 110 additional patients in the ED.
Suni also noted that no one currently staying at the hospital had their care delayed because of the emergency.
