Alberta emergency rooms hit with wave of influenza patients
CBC
Alberta hospitals are being slammed with flu patients at a time when they’re already under strain, and doctors are bracing for more as the worst of the respiratory virus season has yet to hit.
"We're getting crushed — everywhere. All of the emergency departments are getting hit very hard,” said Dr. Paul Parks, the president-elect of the section of emergency medication with the Alberta Medical Association.
"This is only the beginning of it."
Experts have been warning this could be a particularly bad influenza season.
The province’s respiratory virus dashboard shows hospitalizations are rising and, at 17.8 per cent, the flu positivity rate is higher than average for this time of year.
“It’s placing immense pressure on our hospital system," said Parks.
As of Nov. 29, 519 Albertans had been hospitalized due to influenza. There had been 31 intensive care unit admissions and 15 deaths.
“Across the province, Alberta Health Services (AHS) facilities are seeing increased levels of patient demand. This includes high volumes of patients presenting at emergency departments (ED) and patients requiring hospitalization,” an AHS spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“Among those patients are many seeking care due to respiratory illnesses.”
At Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary, Dr. Sidd Thakore is seeing kids of all ages sick with the flu.
"Definitely the last few days we've seen those numbers go up quite substantially."
According to Thakore, they added extra staff, including more physicians, early on and are double-bunking patients in rooms designed for one child.
"Our doubled rooms are being filled up with patients, and we are being asked to discharge patients as quickly as we can. We're starting to see some of those pressures come in now."
Thakore said RSV cases are starting to show up now too.
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