Photo: stantec.com

A staff member who works in a ward of Kelowna General Hospital that's currently dealing with an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness is tracing the infection back to a patient who was admitted.

A staff member in KGH's 2West says a patient with GI was admitted into the cardiac patient unit before showing any symptoms.

"Shortly after arrival, they developed symptoms of GI illness. We immediately put the patient into isolation, but it was too late," she said in a statement to Castanet.

"Staff on 2West that have fallen ill include people who were not even in direct patient contact; that is how contagious this virus is."

Castanet reported Thursday that the latest figures, from October through December, show the hygiene rate at 2West, site of the current outbreak, is 82 per cent.

However, the staff member said hand washing is not a factor in the outbreak.

"It is ill informed of the public to be under any impression that hand washing was a factor in this particular outbreak," she said. 

"As a member of the 2West team, I can give assurance that we have done everything in our power to contain this.

"I can speak personally, and for the nurses, when I say that my hands, and even arms are physically raw from washing them so frequently. I, and my colleagues wore gowns, masks, shoe protectors, and in some cases protective hats when entering affected rooms. Before, and after entering a room, we washed our hands thoroughly, even up to our elbows.

"In many cases we would wash our hands, arms, and use hand sanitizer in addition. Frequently we would take the opportunity to wash our hands, even if we had not been in a patient room, and were doing other tasks like recording information in a patient chart."

The staff member said she's thankful for the public's patience and understanding, adding they're continuing "to provide excellent patient care despite this unfortunate outbreak."

"Our staff has been affected by this also, and so the nurses are working short staffed to ensure the public receives nothing but the best care possible," she said.