Only one bed available at Grand River Hospital amid 'unprecedented level of pressure'
Officials at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener are asking recently retired staff to return to work as they continue to deal with staffing and capacity shortages during the Omicron surge.
According to a media release, as of 11 a.m. Thursday there were 11 patients waiting on stretchers in the emergency department.
"Looking at the 660 beds across GRH’s KW and Freeport Campuses, there is only one available bed, which means there’s no place for these patients to go," the release said in part.
“Today we are facing an unprecedented level of pressure across our hospital," President and CEO Ron Gagnon said in the release. “Since the beginning of the pandemic we’ve added 146 additional beds and today, all but one – a remaining bed in our critical care – is filled.”
Officials said they're seeing more admissions to critical care and medicine programs. Some patients are waiting in the emergency departments for hours, or even days, because there are no clinical beds available. Officials added they have many active outbreaks, "making it challenging to admit new patients to these units as limiting the risk of exposure to COVID for both patients and staff is a competing priority."
“We are now at the point where we may need to start transferring patients out of our hospital for care, and it’s a point we never wanted to reach,” Gagnon said. “We also know that this is not an easy or ready fix, as many hospitals in the region and across the province are in the same situation.”
The release said the Omicron surge has hit hospitals hard across Ontario. Many staff are also unable to come to work.
"We’re calling recently retired team members to ask them to come back. Like every other hospital, our team is persevering through these challenges and we are doing as much as we can to support them with more staff," Gagnon said.
Unifor's Katha Fortier says the union's more than 1,300 members at the hospital are feeling overworked and underappreciated. She's also encouraging retired nurses to help if they can, but hopes to see the more than $300 licence renewal fee covered for those putting the scrubs back on.
"I think it would be a really good show of faith from some employers to say 'we'll just pay the fee for you to come back to work, we're going to make this easy and do whatever we can do to make sure we've got staff in the hospital," said Fortier.
While community cases are starting to plateau, officials said pressure on hospitals lags by two to three weeks.
"Hospitals are preparing for the likelihood that admissions have not yet peaked," the release said.
“While the situation is dire, it is not hopeless and there is still much the community can do to support not just GRH, but all our local hospitals right now,” Dr. Peter Potts, joint chief of staff at GRH and St. Mary’s General Hospital (SMGH), said in the release.
Officials again stressed the importance of vaccination to prevent serious outcomes from a COVID-19 infection.
“We know vaccination is still our best line of defense against COVID-19 so please get vaccinated as soon as possible, whether it’s your first, second or third dose. We also ask that you consider other options outside of our emergency departments such as the new COVID assessment centres at SMGH and Cambridge Memorial Hospital, urgent care clinics, or your family physician’s office. We will care for everyone who comes to our EDs, but please remember there are other options available to you,” Potts said.
“We ask for the community’s continued support of our health care workers,” Gagnon said. “I know we are all feeling the weight of almost two years in this pandemic and in this time we’ve all experienced some of our lowest and most difficult moments. I ask our community for the kindness, empathy, and celebration we saw for health care workers during the first wave and to remember health care workers are facing many of the same pressures at home as you are. Twenty-two months later we are still here for you, so please, be here for us.”
Doris Grinspun, head of the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, says she isn't surprised to hear the call for help.
"Nurses, physicians, and others have sent me pictures that you don't want to see and I will not disclose with the public," she said. "A bed without a nurse is a piece of furniture. A building with beds, even if it's full of beds, if they don't have a doctor or a nurse there, you can't do anything."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
More than half the Canadians once detained in Syrian camps for suspected ISIS family members have returned home
A total of 29 Canadians have been freed from detention camps in northeast Syria and brought back to Canada since human rights advocates began lobbying for their release years ago.
Rare severe solar storm Friday could bring spectacular aurora light show across Canada
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Canada abstains from Palestinian UN membership vote but supports two-state solution
Canada was one of 25 countries that abstained from a United Nations vote on Palestinian membership that passed with overwhelming support on Friday.
Amish youth experience a rite of passage called Rumspringa. It’s not what you might think
The idea of “Rumspringa” has a specific spot in the American imagination. A rite of passage for young people in some Amish communities, Rumspringa is seen by most outsiders as a wild time away from strict Amish rules, when teenagers can experiment with the modern vices of the world.
Djokovic needs medical attention after getting knocked on the head by a water bottle at Italian Open
Novak Djokovic needed medical attention after apparently getting knocked on the head by a water bottle after a win at the Italian Open on Friday.