Alberta Health Services (AHS) said Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton will be implementing new staffing measures to help meet increased demand from respiratory virus patients in the emergency department, pediatriac intensive care, and inpatient units. .AHS will be identifying staff with previous ED, critical care, and inpatient care experience or appropriate skills for deployment to support clinical need in these areas and boost surge capacity at Stollery, according to a Tuesday press release. .The release said identified staff will be deployed to the area of greatest need and where their skills can be best used. This could include the ED, PICU, inpatient units, or to support new capacity. .It said other potential staffing measures include mandatory overtime, short notice schedule changes, and cancellation of staff vacations if shifts cannot be filled. .Stollery’s PICU is at about 100% capacity. It has the ability to create additional beds if required. .The release went on to say a unit which had been temporarily used for adult care returned to pediatric care to help create inpatient capacity. It said eight beds have been opened so far, and it will be increasing to 13 in the coming weeks. .This is the kind of realignment AHS has done as needed across the system in various forms throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Some physicians are working extra shifts..The release encouraged people to seek care from their family physicians for influenza-like illnesses unless it is urgent or severe. It said resources are available on AHS’s Health Education and Learning website and by calling 811..AHS said it is grateful for the staff and physicians who have been working hard and stepped up to fill shifts and work extra hours to deliver care during the pandemic and over the past several weeks and months. .Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley said she heard credible reports from healthcare workers AHS declared a state of emergency at Stollery. .“How long do we have to wait for the Danielle Smith and the UCP to take the children’s healthcare crisis seriously?” said Notley. .Notley said the state of emergency comes as the hospital is overwhelmed. It allows management to cancel vacations, enforce mandatory overtime, and other measures. .She said the healthcare workers at Stollery are “burnt out and have been stretched well beyond what is imaginable.” She added now they might have “some cherished time with their loved ones over the holidays be stripped away.”.“Please keep coming to us and telling us what you’re going through,” she said. .“Clearly, the government isn’t listening, but we are.”.The Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary set up a trailer on November 26 to be used when the emergency department experienced surges in patient volumes. .READ MORE: Alberta Children’s Hospital opens trailer to treat patients amid overcrowding.“The Alberta Children’s Hospital is adding additional waiting area space for periods when the ED is at capacity,” said AHS. .“A heated trailer, located beside the ED, will be operational in early December.”
