'This is our COVID,' doctor warns as respiratory viruses strain Winnipeg Children's Hospital

Winnipeg's Children's Hospital is still seeing a high number of respiratory virus-induced visits, and one doctor thinks it will get worse before it gets better.

There were 198 patient visits to the emergency department at Winnipeg's Children's Hospital at the Health Sciences Centre on Monday, according to a statement from Shared Health, which oversees the delivery of health care in the province.

This after 201 visits Sunday, which marked the highest single-day total the department has seen in several years.

"This is our COVID, in the sense of the numbers we're seeing, how we are having to stretch. And it's coming after a period of two years of high stress, of really testing resilience. I do worry about the health and well-being of our team," said Dr. Karen Gripp, the emergency department medical director for the Health Sciences Centre Children's Hospital.

The Children's Hospital emergency department has struggled in recent weeks with a significant rise in the number of children with respiratory illnesses, including respiratory syncytial virus and influenza, Shared Health previously said.

Gripp pointed to patients with RSV as the primary driver of admissions, many of whom are a lot sicker than in years past.

Of the 198 admissions Monday, more than half — 116 — were higher-acuity pediatric patients, up from 114 on Sunday, according to the provincial health organization.

"Usually, we have about 40 per cent of our patients who are triaged as mid- to higher-acuity and about 60 per cent who are lower acuity, and those numbers have actually flipped," Gripp said.

"We're now swimming up 60 per cent mid- and higher-acuity, which of course needs more resources."

Two weeks into November, the children's emergency department has averaged 176.2 patients per day, exceeding the record pace of 170.3 patients per day seen in December 2019, Shared Health's Tuesday statement said.

That's a 42 per cent jump over last November, when the emergency department saw an average of 124 patients daily.

"We're pretty close to capacity there," said Gripp. "Maybe even over capacity in some areas."

Emergency department juggling beds, staff

The increase in patient visits is creating significant challenges for the department's physicians and staff, a Shared Health spokesperson wrote.

Gripp says beds are being repurposed and models of care are being reimagined, such as temporarily reassigning nurses with intensive care unit training to the intensive care unit.

But she says there are no plans to send patients outside the province for care. And that is simply because children's hospitals in other jurisdictions across the country are experiencing similar spikes in patient visits.

"I think we'll have to be more creative. We'll have to not just have more staffing. We need to actually create those beds," she said. "Other hospitals have put a tent up in the ambulance bay and have beds there … but at the end of the day, patients deserve the care and we will make sure it happens one way or the other."

The Shared Health spokesperson said 10 children — most on ventilators, Gripp said — were in the pediatric intensive care unit as of Tuesday morning. The pre-pandemic baseline capacity for that unit was nine staffed beds.

There were also 52 babies were in the neonatal intensive care unit Tuesday morning, including "a number of patients who are in isolation due to a respiratory illness," the spokesperson said.

Masking up 'a big difference'

December through February tends to be the peak season for respiratory viruses, according to Gripp.

However, the Children's Hospital started seeing RSV cases in August, and she is concerned about what the next few months hold for emergency department admissions. RSV tends to first appear in November and December.

"We are anticipating it will get worse before it gets better," Gripp said.

And even though the province has not brought back masks in indoor spaces, she believes they can help to reduce transmission of things like respiratory viruses.

"It worked for COVID. It worked for a lot of the other respiratory viruses," she said. "Should parents, children, anyone wear a mask, it would likely make a big difference."

WATCH | Winnipeg Children's Hospital's emergency seeing alarming numbers of sick kids:

Winnipeg Children's Hospital's emergency seeing alarming numbers of sick kids

2 years ago

Duration 2:01

Winnipeg Children's Hospital's emergency department continues to see an alarming number of kids sick with respiratory viruses. The medical director of the department says things are expected to get worse before they get better. The children's pediatric and neonatal intensive care units are close to capacity and in some cases over capacity.