Parents upset medically-fragile children losing care due to COVID-19 redeployment

Seven-year-old Zoey Schmidt can't go to school or take part in activities in the community because contracting COVID-19 would likely kill the medically-fragile girl, according to her mother.

Even a common cold can quickly turn into pneumonia for Zoey, who has autism and Down syndrome, landing the girl in a pediatric intensive care unit for weeks.

Pam Schmidt has kept Zoey at home in a small bubble for 19 months. She's only made one exception: a physical therapy appointment for Zoey every two weeks.

"When people say: 'Oh, you're living in fear' — it's like, I do live in fear because my daughter will die if she gets COVID. I've had a doctor basically say that to me," Schmidt said.

But, the mother decided to resume in-person physical therapy for her daughter at Regina's Wascana Rehabilitation Centre this summer because she trusted the physical therapist and worried Zoey was regressing. The non-verbal seven-year-old lacks muscle tone and motor skills, Pam said, and needs therapy to walk up stairs or do simple tasks with her hands.

This week, she learned that therapy has been halted indefinitely because the physical therapist has been redirected elsewhere in the health-care system to assist with the COVID-19 response. The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) warned in late September that pediatric outpatient services could be scaled back to redeploy workers to contact tracing, testing, or frontline care.

Schmidt is disappointed that her daughter is being stripped of her only safe activity and therapy.