Saskatoon hospital so full of COVID-19 patients it moved some into laundry room: doctor
A laundry and medical storage room at St. Paul's Hospital was "cannibalized" to make space for two COVID-19 patients, Saskatoon ICU physician Jeremy Kutulka says.
He says this was the case when he was at the hospital last week.
"I don't know this very second whether they're in there but certainly that what used to be a laundry and storage room was converted into a space for patient care," he told CTV News.
The hospital's flex unit was also filled with patients. The hospital has had to look at expanding into the post-operative care unit, which is far away from the rest of the ICU, in order to temporarily house patients before they can be transferred, he said.
"St Paul's is, literally, physically full. There is no other physical space to put people so they're kind of at a hard maximum."
Royal University Hospital has more space - but not enough staff to work there, Kutulka said.
"So at RUH, we've taken over the old pediatric intensive care unit and a flex unit off to the side. And in this last week we were managing COVID patients in what used to be the neonatal intensive care unit, which was just turned into one large space with a cohort of up to six COVID-positive patients."
Those are suboptimal spaces and they move patients out as quickly as possible, but when numbers are up they take care of patients wherever they need to, he said.
As of Thursday, the province was treating 322 people in hospital including 76 in ICU, according to the provincial dashboard.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an "order of magnitude" worse than SARS or H1N1 - and it's "almost unfathomable" that the province would be in this situation after having been through three waves and knowing what public health measures work, he said.
"We managed to suppress numbers when we didn't have any vaccines. So the fact that we're implementing these really unthinkable and sort of dramatic ... that we're dealing with such crazy overcapacity when 70 of the population is protected and we have a toolbox of public health interventions that have been proven to work, it's hard to take.
"It's really frustrating, you know, as a citizen of this province, but also as a doctor, watching these people suffer. It seems very unnecessary."
Derek Miller, commander of the Saskatchewan Health Authority Emergency Operations Centre, said St. Paul's expanding into former patient rooms that had been converted into storage space is part of the SHA's strategy of expanding its footprint wherever it can.
However, he said at Wednesday's Emergency Operations Centre briefing, the real limitation is the number of highly skilled, trained staff needed in order to deliver services
"So I'll say the the triggering of the out of province transfers is really a reflection of how we have reached a level where the care delivered in our ICUs is being impacted. And that's reflection, as I a mentioned, of the nurse to patient ratios, having non traditional providers in our spaces, extensive overtime and ongoing strain on the teams there.
"So it really, this all comes down to the staff and our ability to actually have those staff be available to deliver care in those expanded spaces."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. tenants evicted for landlord's use after refusing large rent increase to take over neighbouring suite
Ashley Dickey and her mother rented part of the same Coquitlam duplex in three different decades under three different landlords.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
Expert warns of food consumption habits amid rising prices
A new survey by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab asked Canadians about their food consumption habits amid rising prices.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
Ex-tabloid publisher testifies he scooped up possibly damaging tales to shield his old friend Trump
As Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, his old friend at the National Enquirer was scooping up potentially damaging stories about the candidate and paying out tens of thousands of dollars to keep them from the public eye.
Here's why provinces aren't following Saskatchewan's lead on the carbon tax home heating fight
After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would still send Canada Carbon Rebate cheques to Saskatchewan residents, despite Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's decision to stop collecting the carbon tax on natural gas or home heating, questions were raised about whether other provinces would follow suit. CTV News reached out across the country and here's what we found out.
Montreal actress calls Weinstein ruling 'discouraging' but not surprising
A Montreal actress, who has previously detailed incidents she had with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, says a New York Court of Appeals decision overturning his 2020 rape conviction is 'discouraging' but not surprising.
Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye make it four NFL drafts with quarterbacks going 1-3
Caleb Williams is heading to the Windy City, aiming to become the franchise quarterback Chicago has sought for decades.