Alberta's overwhelmed ICUs near capacity, military support being deployed
The Canadian Armed Forces has confirmed that it will be sending resources to help with Alberta's overwhelmed intensive care units facing unprecedented patient numbers during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aircraft and crews are being assembled to transfer ICU patients to hospitals in other parts of the country. The team is expected to be deployed to Alberta as early as Friday.
Details of the aeromedical transportation co-ordination are currently being developed.
"Our teams have already begun liaising and further planning," read a statement from National Defence.
Up to eight nurses with ICU training could also arrive in the province by the end of the weekend.
The province reached out to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair earlier this week calling for help from the federal government.
Blair replied Thursday saying the Canadian Red Cross could also be activated to provide additional support.
Alberta hospitals are seeing "unprecedented patient demand," said Dr. Verna Yiu, Alberta Health Services president and CEO.
As of Thursday, 226 of the 310 patients in ICU were admitted with COVID-19 and the five-day average for patients admitted into ICUs has been slightly more than 23 per day.
"It’s tragic that we are only able to keep pace with these sort of numbers because in part some of our ICU patients have passed away," said Yiu.
The scale of the crisis could be tipped within a day, when it's expected the maximum threshold of 350 total ICU patients will be reached and activate triage protocol.
Yiu also said that nothing is standard about the situation.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.