Last week Saskatchewan began the process of transporting ICU patients to Ontario.
This was done to help reduce the workload for ICU workers in the province.
Marlo Pritchard of the Sask Public Agency says transferring ICU patients to Ontario will continue this week. “We are transferring three patients today (Monday), we are planning barring anything unforeseen four patients tomorrow and then we will be looking at between two and four for the days after that.”
The planning of moving ICU patients can only be done a couple of days in advance says Pritchard because there are a lot of variables that go into the planning process when transferring process.
The federal government will be providing six ICU staff members to help out with the ICU workers in Saskatchewan. SHA CEO Scott Livingstone says the additional staff won’t help out with the opening of ICU beds but rather helping the workload of the ICU staff in the province.
While case numbers continue to trend down, Saskatchewan’s Chief Health Medical Officer says it’s too early to say that the curve is heading in the right direction permanently
Dr. Saqib Shahab says the amount of hospitalized cases in Saskatchewan is still high.
Shahab says while he’s cautiously optimistic he adds that we could still see another surge in hospitalizations and overall cases, saying that we need to stay the course for at least an additional four to six weeks.
