Sask. field hospitals to remain up until SHA confident extra beds won't be needed

Saskatchewan's field hospitals are preparing in case there is an increase of COVID-19 cases during flu season. 

The province set up multiple field hospitals in Saskatoon and Regina, including one in Evraz Place. The strategy is to be prepared in case hospital capacity cannot meet demand.

"Those areas at Evraz have been built, I'd say, a large medical ward," said Graham Blue, is the executive director of acute care with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA).

The field hospitals will be a last resort, Blue said. SHA is going to use regular hospitals first and only open the field units if needed.

"Our last kind of trigger [is] when all of our acute care areas are overrun with patients," Blue said. 

SHA would also look at moving patients to a different city with more capacity before field hospitals are activated, he said. 

Blue said only patients with less-serious symptoms would be treated at field hospitals if they become active. 

"So they might need some fluid rehydration and they might get a little bit of oxygen to help their breathing, but any of our sicker or more critical care, specialized patients, our goal would be to maintain that care in our care hospitals," Blue said. 

If necessary, the field hospitals would be staffed similar to other regular hospitals. Blue said they would have doctors, nurses, support staff, nutritionists, pharmacists and potentially volunteers. The staff would come from service slowdowns or shutdowns in smaller regions, he said.

Blue said he isn't sure when the field hospitals will be taken down. 

"We're really not sure how the pandemic is going to run its course," he said.

"We need to make sure that we've got that field to field hospital capacity until we get to a point where we know that our conventional system can maintain the capacity."

Blue said he feels the province is well-prepared for a potential second wave with a lot of cases. 

"We're not definitely at a place where we can take our eye off of that," he said. "The health system or the people in Saskatchewan — we need to remain vigilant both as citizens and as people working in the system to make sure that the curve remains flat."