McMaster gets ICU beds to cope with crisis

Questions remain around how to staff the beds as hospital considers asking for outside help

The province is funding more beds to care for the sickest kids in Hamilton after a surge of viral illness has caused a crisis in pediatric care.

It’s not clear how McMaster Children’s Hospital (MCH) will staff the beds as shortages and burnout have reached the point that Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) is considering bringing in outside support similar to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, which is getting help from the Canadian Red Cross.

“We are exploring all options to assist us with staffing needs,” HHS said in a statement. “This involves looking within MCH and across HHS, and potentially external opportunities if this should be required.”

McMaster has already asked staff working at other HHS sites to come to the hospital’s aid. HHS includes Juravinski, Hamilton General, St. Peter’s, West Lincoln Memorial hospitals and a number of clinics.

“Staffing and capacity remain pressured,” said HHS. “We are still seeing very sick kids, many requiring a hospital admission.”

Wait times in the emergency department have shot up as high as 13 hours at times, partly because high numbers of admitted kids have been stuck there as the wards have no available beds. Even the intensive care unit (ICU) has been consistently full or overcrowded.

As a result, the province is permanently adding funding for six more ICU beds at McMaster — two are for the most critically ill patients and four are a step down from that. Permanent funding for ICU beds have been added at other Ontario children’s hospitals as well.

“HHS welcomes this support and the government’s commitment to continued dialogue about the additional, much needed investments in care at MCH,” stated the hospital network in an update to the community Tuesday.

In addition, McMaster is opening more unfunded beds on the wards, temporarily cutting back on surgery, transferring some older teens to adult hospitals and sending patients to regional hospitals that provide pediatric care.

HHS says the viral surge behind the crisis is mostly influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

“We have even seen children/ youth with co-infections of more than one virus,” HHS said in the statement.

Flu transmission in Hamilton is holding steady, shows the city’s weekly status update. RSV is not included in the data, so trends around its spread are unknown. One sign of relief is that COVID-19 transmission continues to go down.

“Influenza transmission in Hamilton is moderate and stable,” stated the update Wednesday. “COVID-19 transmission in Hamilton is moderate and decreasing.”

The city reported six new COVID deaths from Nov. 29 to Dec. 6 to bring pandemic fatalities to 649.

A Hamiltonian in their 50s has died of COVID — there have been 15 pandemic fatalities locally in this age range. In total, 29 COVID deaths in Hamilton have been age 20 to 59. No Hamiltonians under age 20 have died of COVID.

The other deaths reported Tuesday were Hamiltonians age 70 and older.

A death was also reported in an ongoing outbreak at Baywoods Place, where 10 have tested positive since Nov. 30 at the long-term-care home at 330 Main St. E.

Half of Hamilton’s eight ongoing outbreaks in high-risk settings Tuesday were at seniors’ homes.

Of the remaining, one was at a shelter and another at a group home.

Two outbreaks were at hospitals — both at the West 5th Campus of St. Joseph’s Healthcare.

The head of HHS put out a plea Tuesday for Hamiltonians to get COVID shots. It was aimed particularly at parents of young children as fewer than nine per cent of kids younger than five have had one dose. Fewer than five per cent of kids age five to 11 have had a booster

“Our experts are urging parents of very young children to have them vaccinated against COVID-19,” CEO Rob MacIsaac tweeted.

HHS is also asking the public to wear masks indoors, get flu shots and stay home when sick.

“We need your help,” McMaster Children’s Hospital tweeted Tuesday. “Everyone, including kids: please wear a mask in crowded indoor spaces (including school).”