'Massive disconnect': Doctors say Kenney misrepresenting Alberta's hospital situation
A number of Alberta physicians say Premier Jason Kenney's comments on Thursday about the provincial hospitalization situation doesn't accurately represent what's happening in ERs.
They believe Kenney incorrectly normalized the state of emergency care in his COVID-19 availability.
"There is significant stress but it is not out of line with historic trends at this time of the year," Kenney said at the time.
"We've been averaging just under 5,300 total non-ICU inpatients since the beginning of January. In 2018, in January, we peaked at 5,600."
Doctors argue those numbers don't tell the whole story.
"He's a politician and not a health-care professional, so there may not be the full understanding of how capacity works," Dr. Neeja Bakshi told CTV News from Edmonton.
"The acute care capacity, so the non-ICU ward space, is the worst we've seen the entire pandemic. And anytime one area is crunched, the whole system will fall apart, because we're all one big cycle."
Medicine Hat physician Dr. Paul Parks called it a "a massive disconnect for health-care workers when we come in to work every day on the front lines and we're drowning in our big emergency departments and on our wards in the hospitals."
"And the government's messaging to the public is that there's nothing to worry about and everything's fine," he said.
"That disconnect is just demoralizing for patients and for healthcare workers."
The premier seemed to backtrack somewhat during Thursday's press conference when he acknowledged the hospital situation was still too volatile to lessen restrictions.
"We're at, in fact, the highest point in the two years in terms of people in the hospital with COVID," Kenney said. "We see particular stress in some of the large urban emergency wards."
Parks believes Kenney's comparisons are unfair.
"Surge capacity is meaningless if you take every single hospital bed in the province and say, 'we're doing fine, the water level is only neck-high.' It's knee-high in a couple hospitals, and it's way over our heads in most of the big hospitals," he said.
"They're drowning."
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw added severe outcomes have taxed health-care professionals.
"The burden of disease that Omicron has caused is straining the capacity of the system," she said.
That system is one that added a field hospital in Edmonton this week to keep up with increased demand.
Doctors say keeping staffing levels up-to-par has been "almost impossible" so far in 2022 and there aren't enough rooms to treat and isolate all the patients who are admitted.
"I don't know what he's saying, and I'm not sure he knows what he saying," Parks said. "It's very dangerous to give the public the idea that the pandemic is over and the hospitals are fine, when they are not."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
LeBlanc says he plans to run in next election, under Trudeau's leadership
Cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to run in the next election as a candidate under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's leadership, amid questions about his rumoured interest in succeeding his longtime friend for the top job.
Sports columnist apologizes for 'oafish' comments directed at Caitlin Clark. The controversy isn’t over
A male columnist has apologized for a cringeworthy moment during former University of Iowa superstar and college basketball’s highest scorer Caitlin Clark’s first news conference as an Indiana Fever player.
Health Canada to change sperm donor screening rules for men who have sex with men
Health Canada will change its longstanding policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned. The federal health agency has adopted a revised directive removing the ban on gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, effective May 8.
U.S. vetoes a widely supported UN resolution backing full membership for Palestine
The United States has vetoed a widely backed UN resolution that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for the state of Palestine.
Bayer recalls hydraSense baby product over 'potential contamination'
Bayer announced Thursday it is recalling two lots of its hydraSense Baby Nasal Care Easydose due to a potential contamination.
N.L. gardening store revives 19th century seed-packing machine
Technology from the 19th century has been brought out of retirement at a Newfoundland gardening store, as staff look for all the help they can get to fill orders during a busy season.
Cat found on Toronto Pearson airport runway 3 days after going missing
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Grandparent scam suspects had ties to Italian organized crime, police allege
A group of suspects that allegedly defrauded seniors across Ontario and other parts of Canada using a so-called emergency grandparent scam appear to have ties to 'Italian traditional organized crime,' according to an investigator involved in the OPP-led probe.