CALGARY – A visit to the Alberta Children’s Hospital made for an emotional ordeal for Colleen Threadkell, whose 10-month-old baby was sick with bronchitis.
“We went into emergency…and there’s a big sign saying two hours and 45 minutes,” said Threadkell. “I thought, ‘oh my goodness’—and there’s kids everywhere.”
She and baby Eli went to the Alberta Children’s Hospital Sunday night, and waited until Monday night at 5 p.m. to get into a room. On Tuesday, they were told he’d be transferred by ambulance to the Peter Lougheed Centre around midnight.
Threadkell drove herself to the Peter Lougheed Centre, arriving at 12:30 a.m.; security had to let her in.
“I was a mess to be honest…I was upset.”
The Alberta Children’s Hospital has fluctuated between 96 and 110 per cent capacity in the month of February, but a spokesperson says it’s a challenge that isn’t unusual or new.
“We see fluctuations in our patient population all the time – we manage this by transferring patients to the Peter Lougheed Centre – they have a full pediatric unit with 14 private rooms,” said an Alberta Health Services spokesperson in an email to Global News.
There’s higher rates of respiratory illness right now—common during flu season—but no one factor is responsible for increased patient capacity, according to AHS. Extra staff are brought in “from time to time” to accommodate extra patients, and on a typical day two to three patients are sent to the Peter Lougheed Centre if their conditions are less acute.
READ MORE: Deaths and hospitalizations due to flu on the rise in Alberta
Other protocols in place to manage the higher number of patients in winter include doubling patients in larger rooms when appropriate (with twins under the age of 2 in the same room, for example), increasing physician capacity and making sure patients are discharged as soon as they’re ready to go home.
“It’s important the public understands that even though ACH is busy, we continue to ensure all patients receive the care they need…the last thing we want is for parents to not bring their kids to hospital if they think we are too busy,” said the AHS spokesperson.
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But operating at over 100 per cent capacity is a concern for parents like Threadkell.
“They were at 118 per cent …just packed with kids who were sick,” she said.
There have been more than 4,000 lab-confirmed cases of the flu in Alberta so far this flu season, most of which are in Calgary:
With files from Heather Yourex
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