Alberta asks feds for help transferring ICU patients out of province
Alberta has asked the federal government for help transporting critically ill patients out of the province for care and bringing in ICU staff, registered nurses and respiratory therapists.
Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver made the request in a letter to Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair on Tuesday, asking for an immediate meeting.
In his letter, McIver outlines that the province has enacted a state of public health emergency and has "actioned a series of steps to relieve pressure on our health care system."
Those steps include a contingency plan to transfer patients out of the province for care and bring while bringing in specialists.
"Federal assistance in these two areas has the potential to create significant relief to the health care system," it read.
Blair said on social media soon after that the request would be approved.
"Federal officials have been engaging their counterparts in Alberta for the past week to offer help," he said. "I have made it clear that when a request is received, it will be approved. We will work together to provide for the people across Alberta."
Premier Jason Kenney is expected to announce a cabinet shuffle Tuesday afternoon, which sources have told CTV News will include removing Tyler Shandro as health minister.
NDP Health Critic David Shepherd issued a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying "Albertans should be appalled" McIver waited until after the federal election to make the ask.
“Alberta’s frontline healthcare workers need all the help they can get as they struggle with the emergency created by the UCP’s failure to act for months while this crisis escalated. I hope the federal government is able to provide resources to relieve some of this excruciating pressure," said Shepherd.
“Albertans should be appalled that Ric McIver waited until after the federal election to make this call to Ottawa. Once again, the UCP is focused on politics instead of the terrible price that Albertans are paying right now, with record ICU admissions and thousands of life-saving surgeries cancelled. It’s disgustingly cynical.”
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott has earlier said that province will help Alberta manage its overwhelmed intensive care units (ICUs), which have been inundated with COVID-19 patients.
Alberta added more than 4,600 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend as hospitalizations rose to a record high.
Monday's update included data from Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The province reported 4,633 new cases over that three-day span.
The number of COVID-19 patients in Alberta hospitals rose to 954, the highest count of the pandemic to date. That figure includes 216 patients in intensive care units, the third most to date.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
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.
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.