'Not going to get better anytime soon': No end in sight for health care staffing shortage in Ottawa and Ontario
Nurses and hospital staff describe it as a dire situation.
While COVID positive cases aren't overwhelming the health care system like they did at the start of the pandemic, the virus is impacting the health care system in Ottawa and across Ontario in a different way now.
"This is not going to get better anytime soon, it's just going to get worse, and I think it's going to get worse quickly," said Ottawa nurse Christie Cowan.
Her candid words come as she experiences the shortage on the front lines. Cowan says hospital staff are rundown, overworked, and struggling to hold on.
"Moral is very low, nurses are tired, burnt out, almost everyone who I work with is on some type of medication for anxiety or depression and therapy," she said.
The issue – some are describing as a secondary effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. While hospitals aren't overwhelmed with COVID positive patients anymore, the impacts of the virus are still being felt.
"It's not COVID per-say because it's not sick COVID patients in the hospital, it's like the secondary impacts," said Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, a critical care physician with the Ottawa Hospital.
"We’re seeing closures of emergency departments, ICUs scaling back, struggling to get shifts covered; this is not a short-term solution issue, this is having meaningful and long-term solutions to build back our health care system better," said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases physician in Toronto.
It comes as another COVID wave in the province has crested according to several experts, but they also say this stage of the pandemic isn't over yet.
"COVID’s not going anywhere and these problem's we're seeing don't have easy solutions, unfortunately," said Dr. Kyeremanteng.
And so without answers to a dire problem, some workers are already making difficult decisions.
"Nurses don't need much reason anymore to leave the hospital, leave the bedside, and some leave the profession. With higher workloads, higher stress and less time off, it's happening faster and faster," said Cowan.
Now despite the health care system suffering with staffing issues – one message from health care professionals has not changed at all: if you are sick and need care do not hesitate to go to the hospital.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.