The COVID-19 outbreaks at Foothills Medical Centre, the largest hospital outbreak in terms of sheer numbers to hit Alberta since the start of the pandemic, are taking a devastating toll on heart patients and prompting at least one doctor in southern Alberta to keep less-urgent heart patients closer to home. Lethbridge cardiologist Dr. Sheila Klassen said a seriously ill patient she helped care for had be sent to Foothills hospital, just before the outbreak was discovered. "He required advanced care in Calgary but unfortunately he ended up in the middle of the Foothills outbreak. But there are bigger implications to the Foothills hospital outbreaks, according to Klassen. Church said it's a budgetary issue for AHS which decided long ago that certain expensive services — including cardiac catheterization — would be centralized.

Source: CBC News October 06, 2020 20:37 UTC