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home / 世界杯决赛2022

b.c. ready to cancel non-urgent surgeries as respiratory cases flood overcrowded hospitals

health minister adrian dix said postponing non-urgent surgeries is one way to create room at hospitals for patients, especially children, who are fighting flu and other respiratory illnesses

by lori culbert
published nov 25, 2022
read time 3 minute read
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read time 3 minute read
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christy hay, the hospital’s executive director of clinical operations, says the department is mostly seeing viral illnesses including covid-19 and an increasing number of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus cases, or rsv. nick procaylo / png
when neelam naicker arrived at b.c. children’s hospital thursday afternoon with her five-year-old daughter jaiya, she had packed food and toys after hearing about the long wait times in the emergency room. “when i walked in and saw the emergency room so packed, i just looked at my husband and thought, ‘oh my god, how are we going to keep her here for that long and keep her comfortable?’ i was really scared to he honest,” naiker said.
because jaiya was born prematurely and has a history at the hospital, the family was seen fairly quickly. doctors were testing her for possible pneumonia.
naiker said she was grateful for the help her family has received from the hospital and its staff, but wished parents didn’t have to face long waits for the er.
“seeing the people who were waiting and imagining i was one of them, brings tears to my eyes.”
the province is battling a difficult season of illness, and measures to provide space for emergency respiratory cases will be taken, health minister adrian dix said thursday.
dix said postponing non-urgent surgeries is one way to create room at hospitals for patients, especially children, who are fighting flu and other respiratory illnesses, including covid-19.
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“we do have other steps we don’t want to take, but they would be, for example, delay of non-urgent surgery and then catching up on those quickly thereafter,” dix told reporters at the legislature. “that step is available to us. we haven’t done it yet.”
b.c. children’s hospital, meanwhile, said it’s triaging less-serious patients from its emergency department to a nearby area due to a surge of people with respiratory illnesses.
christy hay, the hospital’s executive director of clinical operations, said the department is mostly seeing viral illnesses including covid-19 and increasing cases of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or rsv.
she said in an email that the increase in rsv and flu was expected, based on trends in other parts of canada and around the world.
the overflow area, called sunny bear, is in a building near the main er. patients still enter the er, and then the less serious cases will be sent to the overflow area to ease tensions on the overcrowded main er.
the overflow space has been temporarily set up in a second-floor area with about three exam rooms, but on friday night will open in a larger space on the ground floor, with about six exam rooms.
it will be open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., as long as there are enough doctors and nurses to staff it.
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when postmedia visited the space on thursday, it was fairly quiet with most children being examined behind closed doors.
this was in contrast to the er waiting room, which was overflowing with parents and sick kids — some playing with toy cars, some trying to sleep in strollers, others fidgeting in the crowded space, and some crying as they waited.
dix said the current respiratory illness situation in b.c. is concerning for parents and people awaiting surgery.
“you don’t want to delay any surgeries unless you need to,” he said.
b.c. liberal leader kevin falcon said he has been hearing daily “horror stories” from parents enduring long waits at emergency departments with their children.
“why is it that a flu season can cause us to have such a massive crisis in our health system?” he said at a news conference.
“(the government) will not get better results unless they have the courage to make big changes to the system.”
with files from the canadian press
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