Overburdened Ontario children's hospitals sending kids to Kingston for treatment
Kingston General Hospital is taking in young, very sick patients from across Ontario as children’s hospitals are overloaded.
Jason Hann, the executive vice president of patient care with Kingston Health Sciences Centre, says three patients came in on Monday night alone.
“Certainly something that we haven’t seen before,” he explains. “This is different for us, we do see surges and demands for care for pediatric respiratory illnesses, but not to this level and this early in the fall have we seen this before.”
Hann says most of the patients are under the age of two. Many cases are influenza while some are RSV patients. They are coming from all over Ontario, including from CHEO, the Toronto-area, and even northern Ontario.
“It’s really a result of the demand,” explains Hann. “We’ve seen a significant increase in RSV and flu-type illnesses in the pediatric population much sooner than we would have seen in previous years.”
The hospital has expanded the number of beds it has for children, but Hann says its pediatric critical care ward is already sitting at 200 per cent capacity, while the pediatric ward is at 150 per cent.
This is not the first time Kingston has been the site of patient transfers. It took in COVID-19 patients from other hospitals at the height of the pandemic.
The nearby Brockville General Hospital has also expanded to help CHEO. This is the first time the intensive care unit is prepared to admit kids starting at the age of 14, explains Julie Caffin, the senior Vice President, chief nursing executive.
“Normally we would transfer anybody out that requires the level of ICU care. In today’s situation, we have been asked to consider to admit those who are 14-plus,” she explains.
Caffin says that the general hospital is able to see young patients, but if ICU care were needed, in the past, they would be transferred to another hospital.
She says it’s not clear how long the surge will last, as they’ve been given no official word, but she says the peak could come in January. So far, they haven’t had a patient that young be admitted.
In Kingston, Hann says the hospital is able to keep up with local needs as well.
“We’re working well as a team to make sure that we can provide that care,” he says. “We ask the public to be patient with us as we’re managing the demands for care, but if you need the care and you’re acutely ill you’ll get the care that you need.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
2 military horses that broke free and ran loose across London are in serious condition
Two military horses that bolted and ran miles through the streets of London after being spooked by construction noise and tossing their riders were in a serious condition and required operations, a British government official said Thursday.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.