Pediatric illnesses levelling off despite crisis at CHEO, Ford says

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says respiratory illnesses among children in Ontario are levelling off, even as CHEO is calling in the Canadian Red Cross to deal with an unprecedented surge in patients.

Ford says Ontario's chief medical officer of health told him the number of children sick with the flu, RSV and COVID-19 is no longer increasing.

"The good news is, talking to the chief medical officer, we're seeing the pediatric illness actually level. Up in Ottawa, they're seeing a spike, but here in Toronto we're seeing it level off," Ford told reporters in Ingersoll, Ont. on Monday.

Ford made the remarks when he was asked about CHEO requesting assistance from the Canadian Red Cross. The premier said he has been in "constant communication" with CHEO officials, and heaped praise on the hospital's CEO Alex Munter.

"He's done an incredible job thinking outside the box," he said. "He comes up with the best ideas, he texts them over to me, and then we implement them. So he's doing a great job."

Ford says CHEO is seeing the high volumes of illness because they're the only hospital in the region that takes care of pediatric care.

CHEO's chief nursing executive said over the weekend that a small team of Red Cross staff will start this week at the hospital.

"This will allow some of our redeployed staff to go back to their regular roles," Tammy DiGiovanni said in an email to CTV News Ottawa.

CHEO has been seeing a surge in patients with respiratory viruses this fall, forcing the hospital to cancel non-urgent surgeries and procedures, open a second pediatric intensive care unit and redeploy staff from surgical and medical care units.

RSV PEAKING BUT FLU KEEPS GOING UP: MUNTER

Speaking to CTV News, Munter said the hospital believes it has reached or may be beyond the peak for RSV, but flu cases continue to climb. 

"We are seeing volumes of demand that we have never seen at CHEO, in terms of numbers in the emergency department needing to be admitted with RSV, flu and COVID," he said.

Testing positivity for influenza in Ottawa was 27.5 per cent for the week of Nov. 20 to 26. It was 11.1 per cent in Toronto according to Toronto Public Health.

Munter says the hospital will have two teams of nine Red Cross staff working overnight to start and some will move to daytime shifts closer to New Year's. 

"They will be in clinical support roles and that means they will be helping the nurses, the doctors, the respiratory therapists, and others," Munter explained. "They are there to support the clinical staff and make things run smoother."

Munter praised the Red Cross for its international work but also said the organization does a lot of good work here in Canada. 

"Just as we are grateful to accept the help of other hospitals, of community physicians--we are delighted that the Red Cross has some people that are able to come to CHEO and work those overnight shifts," he said. "That will allow us to send clinic staff back to their main jobs so we can cancel fewer appointments and fewer surgeries."