COVID-19: South zone reacts after funding announced to increase Alberta’s health-care capacity

The province announced up to $36-million of funding that would go towards increasing Alberta’s health-care capacity on Thursday. That money will go towards increasing the wages of health-care aides and expand workforce capacity to support home care and continuing care facilities on a short-term basis.

“Definitely disappointed,” said Dr. Paul Parks, an emergency physician at the Medicine Hat Regional hospital. “Myself and a lot of my colleagues are worried that it’s not near enough.”

Parks finished a double night shift on Friday morning. Most of his patients are COVID-19 positive, and most are unvaccinated. He added that Thursday’s announcement is a medium- to long-term solution. But right now, we need quick ones.

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“It is demoralizing to know that we could do more things to prevent the spread. If more people wore masks, if we limited congregations of large sizes… whether its weddings, churches or big events.”

Vaccine passports have been a hot topic of conversation in the province. Premier Jason Kenney has previously said Alberta would not be making a move like that, but doctors and the official NDP opposition continue to voice their concerns.

“We need vaccine passports. We need them yesterday,” said Shannon Phillips, MLA for Lethbridge-West.

Phillips held a press conference on Friday. She also added that the province needs to focus on the south zone, where in some parts, vaccination numbers remain low. First dose vaccination rates in some areas are below 40 per cent and fully vaccinated rates are even lower.

“We need to find ways to communicate with some of these folks who perhaps still have very legitimate questions, who are decent people, and simply need a public health message to be communicated.”

A statement from AHS on Friday said that in the South Zone, there are currently 23 ICU beds, including six additional ICU spaces. Right now, it’s operating at 100 per cent capacity. Out of the 23 ICU patients, 20 are COVID positive.

“The patients with COVID-19 really complicate our care and in the emergency department and in the hospital because of things like infection control and all the resources that are required to take care of them when they’re really sick,” said Parks.

It’s an effect being felt across the province. Chief medical officer of health, Deena Hinshaw, tweeted on Friday there are 686 people in hospital due to COVID-19. Of the 517 non-ICU patients, 74.1 per cent are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and of the 169 in ICU, 91.2 per cent are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

The updated numbers on Friday show 78.9 per cent of Alberta’s eligible population have had one dose, and 70.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.

“We just need more and more people to get vaccinated,” said Parks. “The unvaccinated numbers are just overwhelming us and increasing the spread and making it much harder for everybody across the province.”

“A great jewel of a healthcare system, a pride of Canadians, is essentially on the verge of crisis and collapse because of the pressure that unvaccinated people have put on the healthcare system,” said Phillips.

Despite pressure on the health care system mounting, Parks is adamant about one thing: if you’re sick and need emergency care, come in and get treated.

“Front line workers are working really hard and trying really hard. But on the flip side, we need your help. We need the government to take action and then we need everybody else to wear their masks, wash their hands, stay away from big gatherings. And lastly, most importantly, get vaccinated.”