Winnipeg will expand hospital capacity as facilities face surge of COVID-19 patients: chief nurse

Health officials in Winnipeg are scrambling to expand capacity at hospitalsfor the sickest of patients andtemporarily create off-sitespaces forthose who aren't as ill.

Shared HealthChief Nursing OfficerLanette Siragusasaid Friday the province has no choice but to cancel non-urgent surgeries, create capacity and develop remotebedsasthe available room forcritically ill patientsvanishes.

Otherwise, "we'll reach apoint where our capacity cannot stretch enough," she said.

The province announced 480 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, more than doubling Manitoba's previous record for a single-day jump. The province also announced the Winnipeg region will move to the red, or critical, level of Manitoba's pandemic response system as of Monday.

"These numbers are concerning and with these daily case counts increasing, we can expect there's going to be more hospitalizations in the next week or two, and that is why we will be moving towards ramping down servicesalong with the red restrictions," Siragusa said.

In addition to creating more space, visitations will be suspendedat Winnipeg hospitals under the new restrictions,with exceptionson a case-by-case basis (for patients receiving end-of-life care or pediatric patients, for example).

Elective and non-urgent surgeries and diagnostic surgeries will be put on hold after 99 non-urgent procedures were already suspended this week,Siragusa said.

Only three of Winnipeg's 71 critical care beds were vacant as of Friday morning, Siragusa said an occupancy rate of 96 per cent.

St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg was forcedto stop taking any more critical care patients Thursday, as its 14-bed intensive care unit was full.

Staff redeployed, rooms rearranged

Given the dire bed shortage,Siragusasaidthe province mustexpand capacity to prepare for a further surge ofhospitalizations. There were 104 people in hospital with COVID-19 onFriday, another record. That included 19 people in intensive care with the illness.

Siragusa outlined a three-phase for expanding hospital capacity.

Initial steps involve an immediate expansion of bed space by redeploying staff andmodifying rooms, she said. Some staff will be freed up from swabbing sites once new trainees take over.

"We planned for this scenario in the spring," she said. "Wenever had to implement it, because the public health precautions worked."

The second step would involve further expansion, which "may require some modification or equipment delivery" of existing physical spaces, she said.

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Manitoba Shared Health Chief Nursing Officer Lanette Siragusa says she hopes the province is able to turn around its trend of growing COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations so health-care workers dont need to make tough decisions about who gets care if hospital capacity is exceeded.

A third phase would involve off-site expansion if necessary, she said.

"This expansion would not be specifically for COVIDpatients," she said, but wouldbe for"fairly stable" patients whoneed care that can be delivered in a non-hospital setting.

Moving those non-COVID patients would free up space for more urgent cases, such as patients with COVID-19, she said.

Some health-care workers will likely be shifting to the bedsides of critical care patients, which may not be the workenvironment some are used to, said ManitobaAssociationofHealth Care Professionals presidentBob Moroz.

"We're bolstering the lines. That,in itself, is not a bad idea," he said.

"Theproblem is, how did we get here right now, where we have to scramble at acrisis moment?Government has had months and months to plan for this and they've done nothing to bolster their services."

The Manitoba Nurses Union said the tighter restrictions coming into effect next week including the closure of bars anddine-in restaurants in Winnipeg are necessities in the absence of rapid testing and robust contact tracing.

"There's no flex in the [health-care] systemwhen it comes to staffing," president Darlene Jackson said."I think that now is the time to really take action on this pandemic."

Siragusasaid at Friday's media briefing the province is activelyrecruiting casual and term employees. The province receivesaround 50 applications a day, she said.

Before Friday's announcement, the HealthSciences Centre and GraceHospital in Winnipeg were moving quickly to make room forcritical care patients, according to a memo fromSt. Boniface Hospitalpresident and CEO Martine Bouchard.

She noted one patient had to be admitted to thehospital's cardiac surgery unit, but that unit cannot handle any more admissions because several staff members are self-isolating.