Winnipeg man dies of COVID-19 at rural hospital after being transferred to clear beds for pandemic surge
CBC
Clarke Gehman was sent to a health-care facility four hours away from Winnipeg after the expected influx of COVID-19 patients left him without a bed in the city — but his family never expected that same illness would end his life just weeks later.
Clarke, 84, contracted COVID-19 sometime after he was transferred to Russell, Man., said his son, Kirby Gehman.
"The fact that [his hospital] was four hours away was kind of a surprise, and the fact that he came out of it dead was also not expected," he said.
Nearly three weeks after his initial transfer, Clarke died of COVID-19 on Feb. 11.
Families across Manitoba have decried the health system's recent practice of whisking patients — many of them seniors — away from their loved ones to hospitals outside their local health region, which are sometimes hours away.
These transfers started in October 2021 to ensure Manitoba was ready for the anticipated surge in COVID-19 patients.
In the case of the Gehman family, this shouldn't have ended in tragedy, NDP Leader Wab Kinew said.
"My heart really goes out to this family because it seems like there are issues that are compounding their grief, in addition to having lost their loved one. I'm sure there are questions along the lines of: what might have been had he not been transferred?"
"It's just unfortunate that our health-care system is that such a point where those unanswered questions around the care that somebody receives are just adding to the hurt that families are feeling right now."
Clarke Gehman, a former fighter pilot who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force at the age of 17, was taken into Winnipeg's Victoria Hospital for liver and kidney issues on Jan. 9.
It did not surprise Kirby that his dad, in stable condition, could be eligible for a transfer. On Jan. 24, Clarke was taken to Russell, Man., which is more than 310 kilometres west of Winnipeg.
His family in Winnipeg wasn't able to visit him because the hospital denied visitors in an effort to stop COVID-19 from spreading, Kirby said.
Around the time the Gehmans were planning to seek an exemption, they learned Clarke would be transferred to Reston, Man., which is nearly 290 kilometres west of Winnipeg.
He arrived on Feb. 3, but a routine COVID test several days later was positive.