Sask. children's hospital ICU accepts adults in COVID-19 surge plan
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is shuttling some adult intensive care patients to the province’s children’s hospital in the face of surging COVID-19 cases.
“Critical care capacity is under strain and all avenues of support need to be explored to so we can continue to care for extremely ill patients,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Susan Shaw said in a news release.
Adult patients requiring an ICU bed will be considered for admission to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon, according to the health authority.
Patients are selected through a clinical review by the adult and pediatric critical care physicians.
Pediatric patients will continue to be prioritized for critical care at the hospital’s PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) and no pediatric patients will be displaced, according to the SHA.
The change is effective immediately and is part of a larger SHA surge plan announced Sept. 17 to prepare for a growing number of COVID patients throughout the health system.
The PICU will be able to surge to 18 critical care beds, including six additional flex beds for both pediatric and selected adult patients.
Staffing plans have been developed and continue to be secured for the additional beds, much of which will come through service slowdowns.
The SHA’s normal (ICU) capacity is 79 beds. To increase ICU capacity, the SHA has also added 22 surge beds.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 78 of the 101 available ICU beds were full and two adult COVID infectious patients had been admitted to JPCH.
'DISTURBING' NEWS
“The news now that we have the children's hospital ICU being used for COVID is very disturbing,” Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark said.
“If we had a tragic accident involving children now, and the potential for the ICU being overwhelmed, it would be so devastating.”
Crowded ICUs and emergency rooms are also affecting wait times for ambulances across the province.
“We are seeing unprecedented offload delays in Saskatoon and Regina,” said Kelly Prime, the past president of Paramedic Services Chiefs of Saskatchewan.
The province has 104 ambulance services and 3,000 practitioners – and each one is feeling pressure from the surge of COVID-19 cases, Prime said.
Paramedics are waiting up to six hours for patients to find a bed in Regina hospitals, while in Saskatoon it can take up to 17 hours.
“That's just take your stretcher, take your patient, go wait in the back hallway until something frees up, so we can take our patient off the stretcher and put them in a bed.”
Then, Prime says, paramedics must wait until that patient has been treated by a physician or nurse, and determined the next course of action.
“In Saskatoon, you're seeing anywhere from an hour to four hours of waiting time for an ambulance to respond,” said Prime.
“This is the worst that I have ever seen it, and it is getting compounded for rural due to labor shortage.”
Rural Saskatchewan is where the situation is the most dire, as paramedics are working anywhere from 16 to 18 hours a day to 40 hours straight with few breaks, he said.
“They're just running call to call to call to call, taking patients to the city, bringing patients back from the city, which is creating such fatigue on them that they're leaving the industry, which has created a labor shortage for us.”
Prime says the industry needs to see proper funding and competitive wages to keep paramedics working in rural areas.
“In my 30 years I've never seen it this bad.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Air traveller complaints to Canadian Transportation Agency hit new high
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
AFN chief says Air Canada offered a 15% discount after her headdress was mishandled
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
DEVELOPING Bird flu outbreaks: WHO weighs in on public health risk
The current overall public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus is low, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but urged countries to stay alert for cases of animal-to-human transmission.
76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid says he has Bell's palsy
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
Island near Mull of Kintyre for sale for US$3.1 million
An idyllic 453-acre private island is up for sale off the west coast of Scotland and it comes with sandy beaches, puffins galore, seven houses, a pub, a helipad and a flock of black-faced sheep.
King Charles' cancer treatment progressing well, says Buckingham Palace
King Charles III’s doctors are 'sufficiently pleased' with his cancer treatment and he is expected to return to public-facing duties, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.
Flight attendant indicted in attempt to record teen girl in airplane bathroom
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.