Winnipeg emergency departments experience spike in visits

The number of daily visits to Winnipeg emergency departments has increased by 25 per cent in the last month, and almost all of the 80 intensive care beds are full, a provincial health official says.

Jan Currie, chief nursing officer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said the increase — to 1,000 visits from 800 — includes several patients with respiratory illnesses. Many of them require ventilators, but only a few have been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, she said.

Keeping the hospitals staffed has been challenging because some nurses and medical support staff have also been sick, Currie added.

"We don't want them to come to work if they are sick — just like anyone in the general population — so some staff are working overtime and we are seeing both critical care and emergency departments, you know, very busy," she said, adding it is unusual to see so many people with flu-like symptoms at this time of the year.

An outbreak of a flu-like illness has also struck a remote northern Manitoba First Nation. About 200 people from St. Theresa Point, located about 500 kilometres from Winnipeg, have reported being ill in the past week.

The majority of them are being treated in the community, but 21 people with severe symptoms have been transported to Winnipeg hospitals. Two women from the community, both in their 20s, are listed in critical condition. One of the women was pregnant but has since miscarried.

Community officials in St. Theresa Point confirmed on Thursday that two residents have tested positive for swine flu. Those positive results did not come from the two critical women, whose tests have not yet come back.