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More than 10,000 patients in Waterloo Region impacted by pandemic surgical backlog

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More than 10,000 patients in Waterloo Region are part of the list of backlogged surgeries and procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

St. Mary's General Hospital has a backlog of about 7,575 patients, while Cambridge Memorial has about 2,400. Grand River Hospital has not yet provided the current number of patients impacted by the backlog.

Among those in the region waiting for procedures is a Cambridge woman who hopes the $324 million the province is committing to help Ontario hospitals tackle the backlog will speed up the process.

Sarah Hunt recently had a procedure to treat a rare nerve cancer in her arm, but before that she was in chronic pain.

"It's been a challenge living through COVID when you can't get the treatments that you need," she said.

Hunt says her good arm now has severe use injuries. The surgery to fix it is scheduled for Aug. 10 at Toronto Western Hospital after waiting since January.

"It's been delayed twice now," Hunt said.

The Ontario government's investment to clear the backlog is to help local hospitals perform more surgeries, MRIs and CT scans.

At St. Mary's Hospital in Kitchener, it's still not clear how much money they will get.

President Lee Fairclough says the government is giving them leeway on how to use the funds effectively.

"Some of those creative ideas will include how can we accelerate the training for people, how can we ensure we are drawing more and more people to come and work in health care," she said.

The government says three out of four patients who were waitlisted for required surgeries between March of last year and this year received care.

Now, the push is on to help those still waiting.

"Patients should start to see more further resumption of that through the fall, and yes you will be hearing from us when we are ready to invite you in for your procedure," Fairclough said.

For Hunt, she hopes the new money means the invitation go out sooner rather than later.

"During the last year, while we've been dealing with COVID, none of these other illnesses have disappeared," she said.

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