COVID-19 patients in B.C.'s north being flown elsewhere for care as local hospitals hit limits
CBC
Critically ill COVID-19 patients in B.C.'s north are being flown as far away as Vancouver Island to receive care because local hospitals no longer have enough capacity, provincial officials said Tuesday.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said a total of 12 patients have been transferred to Prince George, Vancouver and Nanaimo because the Northern Health region is badly "overstretched" by a high rate of positive cases.
"Clearly, this is less than ideal. It will be difficult for those patients and their families and their loved ones, but these are necessary steps," Dix said during a news conference.
"We expect the pressure on the critical care in the north until vaccination rates go up and cases in hospitals go down."
Northern Health is facing a severe health-care staffing shortage.
Dix said last week the workforce challenges have been exacerbated in the region — which extends from Quesnel, Valemount and Prince Rupert north to the Yukon border — as it deals with the highest number of COVID-19 cases per capita in the province, and that recruitment and retainment are traditionally more difficult there in any case.
There are 41 cases per 100,000 residents in Northern Health, more than double the rate of the next hardest-hit region — Interior Health.
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