Long hours, mounting stress: behind the curtain of COVID-19 red zone in St. Paul's Hospital

In the intensive care unit housing COVID-19 patients in St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, health care workers are using an unusualtool to prevent the spread of infection: binoculars.

"We're trying not to go in COVID rooms unless its absolutely necessary," explains Amanda Ow, a respiratory therapist.

Ow says thebinoculars come in handy in order to seethe small numbers on the breathing machine or the IV pumps.

In B.C.as of Wednesday,there were 338 patients in hospital, and 75 in intensive care. Most of those patients are concentrated in theLower Mainland.

The ICU at St. Paul's Hospitalis divided into zones: yellow for suspected COVID-19 cases and red for confirmed positive patients.

"It's very hard for families. It's very hard for the patients because they're stuck in these rooms, and they just see us with our masks on. [WIth] all the PPE, they don't recognize any of us," Ow said.

Ow's day, like many other health-care workers in the unit, starts withhealth screens and layers of personal protective equipment.

Respiratory therapist describes COVID-19 unit at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver

4 years ago

Duration 0:54

Amanda Ow, 32, works as a respiratory therapist in the intensive care unit at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. She describes her experience caring for patients with COVID-19 over the course of 2020.

These lead to long hours and staffscrambling to save space in rooms and preserve valuable PPE as COVID hospitalizations climb.

Christine Sorensen with the B.C. Nurses' Union says nurses are struggling with mental health concerns as thepandemic progresses.

"We do know that a number of nurses are expressing signs of anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, but also moral distress and moving onto PTSD," Sorensen said.

Ow says the pressure on the health-care system is building.

"If things get worse, I don't know how we're going to choose who gets treatment and who doesn't. Obviously we're limited with space, we're limited with equipment."

Until wide distribution of thevaccine can provide an extra buffer to the health-care system, Ow is urging people to continue to follow the public health guidelines.