'A lot of tears': Albertans react after hundreds of surgeries cancelled due to COVID-19 pressures
After waiting a year for surgery for her seven-year-old son, Rhonda Vance says the surgeon broke the news to her this week that it had been cancelled.
"There was a lot of shock, there was a lot of tears, there was a lot of hard explanation around why the adults aren't able to help my son and take away his pain," Vance told CTV News.
Her son, Keegan, was supposed to receive surgery for his clubfoot on Friday at Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary.
Instead, days before the surgery they'd been waiting for since last September, it was cancelled.
"We found out his surgery was cancelled as we were walking in to go see his surgeon in preparation for his surgery that was scheduled for tomorrow morning," she said.
Keegan is one of hundreds of Albertans who are having their treatments cancelled due to soaring COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations that are overwhelming the province's hospitals.
On Wednesday, Alberta Health Services (AHS) announced it is cancelling all scheduled elective surgeries and many outpatient treatments for the rest of the week in Calgary. A reduction in the number of surgeries is also happening in several health zones across the province.
"It was very frustrating and I definitely could see that in his surgeon's eyes and just in his words yesterday that, having nurses being redeployed to take care of adults in the ICU who have COVID, and then my son having to again wait for this surgery that is definitely going to improve his quality of life moving forward," Vance said.
Eric Mulder is another Albertan affected by the cancellations this week. The Edmonton-area man found out his brain surgery at the University of Alberta Hospital was cancelled less than 24-hours before it was set to take place.
"The first question I asked was, ‘When's the new surgery date?' and they told me there wasn't one," said Mulder.
"Now that everything is up in the air again, stress and anxiety is right back up there."
In a statement, AHS says it will continue with all urgent and emergent procedures and prioritized cancer surgeries.
"This move will allow AHS to deploy qualified staff to support intensive care and critical care beds within the (Calgary) Zone," read a statement issued Wednesday.
Alberta Health Minster Tyler Shandro, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw and AHS' CEO, Dr. Verna Yiu are scheduled to speak Thursday.
The 3:30 p.m. announcement is expected to outline the province's actions to reduce pressure on Alberta's hospitals.
With files from CTV Edmonton
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.