Canadian Red Cross sending up to 8 nurses to Manitoba as province grapples with ICU crunch

The Canadian Red Cross will send up to eight nurses to Manitoba in response to a request from the province last weekend, a spokesperson for the federal government said on Saturday afternoon.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair authorized the request for nurses for intensive care units, emergency rooms, acute care and general nursing, Blair's press secretary, Annie Cullinan, said in an email.

The deployment will start on Dec. 20 and run until Jan. 17, with the possibility of an extension, Cullinan's email said.

Shedirected any specific questions about the deployment to the Red Cross, which said it's still working out the details.

The agencywill share those details as they become available, aRed Cross spokesperson said in an email Saturday.

Blair tweeted about the deployment shortly after 2 p.m. CT.

"We will always be there to support Canadians," the federal minister wrote.

Manitoba said last Monday it had asked the federal government for intensive care unit nurses to help during the province's fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, as a lack of critical care beds is causing massive system backlogs.

The eight nurses being sent for four weeks falls short of the province's request for15 to 30 nurses for about six weeks.

A spokesperson for the province had previously said the help would increase Manitoba's ICUcapacity to address the pressure the latest wave of the pandemic has put on hospitals.

It would also allow more surgeries to happen, as the province works through a massive backlog of postponed procedures, the spokesperson said.

The province did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Doctors in Manitoba have in recent weeks sounded alarms about what front-line health-care workers are dealing with, as the pandemic's fourth wave continues to strain ICU capacity.

A group of 10 doctors wrote a letter to Premier Heather Stefanson last weekend, asking for the military to be called in to help and for the province to crack down on pandemic-rule scofflaws.

Several of those doctors also voiced concerns that the province's request for 15 to 30 nurses may not even be enough as daily case counts continue to rise in Manitoba.