Ontario confirms the province will help Alberta with overwhelmed ICUs
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott confirms the province will help Alberta manage its overwhelmed intensive care units (ICUs), which have been inundated with COVID-19 patients, operating at 155 per cent over normal capacity.
“There was a time when Ontario needed some help as well and other provinces helped us,” Elliott said, after making an announcement in Tweed, Ont., on Friday.
In April, the Ford government reached out to every province and territory asking for help with health-care resources to manage overloaded ICUs. At the time, Alberta declined to send help due to a sharp increase in their own hospitalizations.
“Our officials, they're having conversations right now about exactly what they need, and we will be there to support them and help them,” she said.
Elliott said she expects supporting Alberta’s ICUs would be “at the top of the list” of Ontario’s response. Although, she did not disclose any details on how the province plans on providing this support. “Frankly, I think that their intensive care units are very full right now,” she said.
“Ontario has graciously offered their help, and we're in discussions with them regarding potential transfer of patients if needed,” Dr. Verna Yiu, the head of Alberta Health Services (AHS), told reporters on Thursday
Alberta has a total of 310 ICU beds. Currently, 86 per cent of those beds are occupied, primarily by COVID-19 patients, Yiu said on Thursday.
"If the numbers keep increasing, right now we're seeing on average about 18 to 20 new COVID ICU admissions every single day,” she said. “We need to bend that curve.”
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney declared a public health emergency for the province on Wednesday, describing the current situation as a “crisis of the unvaccinated.”
With files from the Canadian Press.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.