Ontario has been hit hard by the third wave of COVID-19. Since Kingston and the surrounding region are in a much better position than many other areas of the province, our local health care workers have been enlisted to help treat the rising number of people requiring hospital care. Kingston General Hospital is at the forefront of the current health care crisis, with more than 40 patients who have been flown here from other parts of the province. As the number of people admitted to hospitals in the Toronto area continues to grow, it’s expected the number of patients here will continue to grow, which will put a growing strain on the staff and space at KGH.
Frontline doctors, nurses and support staff are doing a tremendous job right now, and as a City we want to support them at such a critical time. For the hospital staff working long shifts to care for patients in the ICU, one thing we can do is offer some relief from parking fees. We’re going to keep spaces closest to the hospital available for patients but the City will waive parking fees for on-street parking in the vicinity of the KGH for frontline hospital staff. KHSC is working with the City to distribute information directly to hospital employees so details with be available shortly. We’ll keep this free parking for them in place until the end of June, and we’ve also asked Queen’s University and Kingston Health Sciences Centre to look into what they can do to provide assistance with their parking lots. There’s a tough road ahead here at KGH, but I want staff at the hospital to know how much we appreciate the challenging work they are doing right now.