It’s Time for Ottawa to Help Alberta Fight COVID-19, Advocates Say | The Canadian News

Ottawa must show leadership and help manage Alberta’s COVID-19 crisis, health advocates say.

The suggestion comes in response to Alberta’s formal request to the federal government for assistance in managing its fourth wave, which has pushed hospitals to the brink and protective measures have been tightened after a summer of relaxed restrictions.

Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, told Global News that Ottawa can help by coordinating health care resources, allocating additional funds and bringing in the military.

The federal government could also “bring in staff just to make lunches for those who work 24 hours,” he said, adding that Ottawa needs to better coordinate medical care in times of crisis.

“It makes no sense that we are one of the largest workforces in Canada … and there is no planning at the national level, there is little provincial planning on how we are going to distribute and how many nurses we need in five years and 10 years and how we retain them.” Silas said.

In Canada, managing healthcare is a provincial responsibility, and Alberta has been in the national spotlight for weeks for its handling of the pandemic. Vaccination rates began to decline after the province eased almost all public health measures in July, which later led to an increase in cases and hospitalizations.

Throughout the pandemic, Ottawa has supported the provinces by allocating funds and offering support such as contact tracing, testing assistance, and outbreak management. But to a large extent, the pandemic has been managed differently by each province.

On Tuesday, Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver wrote a letter to federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair, requesting help with moving patients and critical care personnel. He also asked for an immediate meeting to discuss the requests.

In a response on Twitter, Blair said officials have been communicating with their Alberta counterparts for the past week.

“I made it clear that when an application is received, it will be approved. We will work together to help the people of Alberta, ”he wrote.

Right now, Alberta has the highest number of patients in intensive care units in the province since the pandemic began. There are 302 patients in the ICU and the province continues to expand its ICU capacity by reallocating spaces.

Alberta currently has 348 open ICU beds, including 175 additional spaces. Alberta Health Services (AHS) has opened 41 additional spaces for ICU emergencies in the last week. The UCI’s capacity is 87 percent, but it would be 174 percent without those extra spaces, AHS said Wednesday.

Dr. Paul Parks, president of emergency medicine at the Alberta Medical Association and an emergency medicine physician at Medicine Hat, told Global News that while it is “discouraging” to have gotten to this point, help is needed.

“I really don’t think we need fans or we need space, rooms, beds, or supplies,” he said. “We need humans for sure, and that has been clear to us for the last month or more as the numbers are increasing.”

However, Canada is facing a shortage of nurses.

Statistics Canada recently reported that nearly one in five job openings in Canada in early 2021 is in health care and social assistance. Those sectors experienced the largest losses year-over-year compared to all other sectors.

September 18th various unions in Alberta issued a joint letter to Prime Minister Jason Kenney warning that the health care system was “collapsing before our eyes” and that there were no more nurses to deploy.

Also, Alberta will soon run out of ICU space, said Dr. Craig Jenne, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Calgary.

“All the indicators are that we continue to emphasize the healthcare system, we continue to need to find space and it will probably be a matter of days before we have to look for that space outside the province,” he told Global News. on Tuesday.

While Parks understands the looming crisis, he hopes Ottawa can come through.

“We are floating as seriously as we can with this huge tsunami that is trying to drown us,” he said.

“We are also concerned that we are asking for help now, but it is not clear that our government is implementing really positive public health measures that are going to stop this wave … we really need human resources and support, but we are concerned that it will not be there “.

In addition to Parks and Sidas, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is also calling on Ottawa to act.

“COVID-19 does not recognize geographic borders. When a jurisdiction is in crisis, it affects all Canadians, ”CMA President Dr. Katharine Smart said in a statement to Global News.

“The CMA is asking the federal government to deploy all possible levers to support the people of Alberta, from the deployment of military assets to health workers on federal staff. Time is of the essence: people’s lives are at stake. “

Looking back at the last 19 months, Silas recalls when nurses from Newfoundland and Labrador went to Ontario to help the province manage its surge in COVID-19.

That move gave frontline workers hope, he said, and he believes Ottawa can help foster the same now.

“Remember at the beginning of the pandemic, when everyone said that we are all in this together … we have to get that feeling back,” he said.

“We cannot have angry people’s demonstrations on the street, we have to regain that hope and inspire the health workers who are trying to save lives in those buildings.”

–With files from Emily Mertz

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