‘We are at a crisis point. Lives are at stake’

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This article was published 30/10/2020 (2155 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson implored Manitobans to follow the latest round of public health orders, but said nurses have been raising the alarm for months when it comes to health-system capacity.

“We are at a crisis point. Lives are at stake,” Jackson said. “In the absence of rapid testing and robust contact tracing, restrictions are absolutely necessary to control the spread of the virus.

“It didn’t have to be this way. The Pallister government had months to prepare. They sat on their hands, refused to invest in our public health system, and now we are at a tipping point,” she said.

On Friday, Manitoba’s chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa, said non-urgent and elective surgeries will be postponed to redeploy nearly 2,000 health-care workers to areas of high need ahead of an expected surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

This week, 99 surgeries were cancelled due to COVID-19 pressures, including 72 at St. Boniface Hospital.

On Friday, intensive care beds in Winnipeg were 96 per cent full and 107 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 (17 in the ICU).

“The numbers today will strike fear in many Manitobans, and these numbers will have the most resonance with our health-care workers, who have stepped forward at the same time that we’ve asked Manitobans to take a step back,” Siragusa said.

The chief nurse outlined a three-phase plan to increase capacity at hospitals as the system prepares for more people to become severely ill with the disease.

Phase One: Immediate capacity expansion

Siragusa said the first phase of the plan was put into motion on Friday and will result in capacity expansion by the end of the week.

The footprint of both medicine and critical care units will be expanded and more beds will be added at facilities. Overflow beds will be placed in units and other inpatient units will be repurposed.

She said equipment is mostly in place to execute the plan and staff trained to work in critical care will be reassigned from other areas.

“By decreasing the non-urgent and elective surgeries, we will be able to quickly free up beds across the system, and we will have access to just under 2,000 employees who work within the Winnipeg metropolitan area,” Siragusa said.

This includes nurses, respiratory therapists and physicians who have experience managing highly acute patients, she said.

Critical care units will be at Grace Hospital, Health Sciences Centre, Brandon Regional Health Centre and St. Boniface Hospital.

 

Phase Two: Bed mapping and staff shuffle

Siragusa said Shared Health has planned and prepared scenarios to add more beds as needed over the next two to three weeks.

“The physical spaces may require some modification or equipment delivery and the staffing models may be more complex than those identified in Phase One of the plan,” she said.

In this phase, health-care workers may be deployed to provide care using a team model, where between all staff, a patient’s needs are covered. This will require collaboration with regulatory bodies and additional training, Siragusa said.

 

Phase Three: Off-site expansion

This phase includes creating overflow capacity outside of hospitals for non-COVID-19 patients who are stable and require low acuity-care.

“By moving these non-COVID patients, we will be able to free up space in the hospitals for higher-acuity patients,” she said.

She said equipment, beds and supplies for both Phase Two and Three have been ordered and are ready, if needed.

Siragusa said hospitals remain safe for Manitobans to go for care. Essential services such as labour and delivery, mental health, and emergency care continues.

“Today is a hard day,” Siragusa said. “I do want to be clear and honest with Manitobans and with our health care staff that there is a plan in place, the details of the plan are ongoing and staffing is going to be the most challenging part of this.”

In Winnipeg, three hospitals have units dedicated to care for COVID-19 patients. Health Sciences Centre has 48 beds, St. Boniface Hospital has 54 and Grace Hospital has 22 for a total of 124.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca