Treating trauma during COVID-19: How one Edmonton team handled the Icefield tragedy

When a tour bus rolled in the Columbia Icefield on July 18, killing three people, a life-saving machine was set in motion.

Twenty-four patients were transported from Jasper National Park to hospitals around the province, including two trauma centres in Edmonton: the Royal Alexandra Hospital and the University of Alberta Hospital.

READ MORE: Jasper bus crash investigation likely to have 3 focuses, including road conditions: mechanical engineer 

Trauma surgeon and intensive care specialist Damian Paton-Gay explained that his Royal Alex team is specially trained to treat the most severely injured patients, but COVID-19 complicated things.

“People who are severely injured aren’t going to be able to answer the same [COVID-19] screening questions as everyone else,” Paton-Gay told Global News.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "People who are severely injured aren't going to be able to answer the same [COVID-19] screening questions as everyone else," Paton-Gay told Global News.

And because testing takes time, there was no way to know a patient’s status immediately.

To minimize the risk to other patients and staff, the team treated each patient as though they were carrying the novel coronavirus.

He described the process of handling a mass trauma situation like the Icefield crash as an “immense” machine.

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READ MORE: Injured Columbia Icefield bus crash survivor coping with deaths and injuries of loved ones

It started with first responders on the scene, triaging and sending information to hospitals. According to Alberta Health Services, five patients were transported by ground ambulance, and 19 were airlifted to hospitals in Calgary, Grande Prairie, Banff and Edmonton.

Paton-Gay said those that came to the Royal Alexandra Hospital were triaged again to “determine exactly what their injuries are and how stable they are and what the speed of their response needs to be.”

His team includes emergency doctors, surgeons, nurses and respiratory therapists. To prepare for various scenarios, they run simulations at least once a month. At the beginning of the pandemic, they practised once a week.

Edmonton’s two trauma centres see 3,000 to 4,000 patients per month — about seven per cent of total emergency visits. Forty per cent come from outside of the city, including from northern B.C., northwestern Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.

Summer is the trauma team’s busiest season — case loads can increase by a third. Paton-Gay said most injuries are a result of highway collisions or ATV incidents.

“It’s tough to watch people out for a good time and then winding up in our emergency rooms or trauma wards with injuries.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's tough to watch people out for a good time and then winding up in our emergency rooms or trauma wards with injuries."