Grey and Bruce counties, the Grey Bruce Health Unit and Bruce Power are working to create community recovery centres to lessen the burden from the COVID-19 outbreak.

In a joint media release April 3, the recovery centres are planned at the Davidson Centre in Kincardine, P&H Centre in Hanover and a third site to be determined by local need.

"Residents should be assured that we are well serviced by a strong health care system; setting up these recovery centres is being done out of an abundance of caution and is one way that the county of Grey and the county of Bruce can be prepared to mitigate the potential negative impacts of the outbreak,” said Dr Ian Arra, Grey Bruce Medical Officer of Health.

The centres are not designed for critical or high-level care. Instead, they will provide additional patient support. This could include non-critical overflow patients who may be returning to long-term care or retirement facilities.

Each centre will be set-up as a 50-bed facility but will only be activated in the event they are required due to the extreme nature of the situation. A review of the infrastructure at the Davidson Centre in Kincardine and the P&H Centre in Hanover indicate they are capable of accommodating the requirements of a recovery centre.

This initiative is driven by the two counties, supported by public health, and fully funded by a generous donation from Bruce Power.