Health Minister Sylvia Jones acknowledges it is “not ideal” that kids are being sent far from home because local children’s hospitals are swamped by a post-pandemic surge of respiratory viruses like flu and RSV. There shouldn’t be a nurse shortage.”Jones said the hospital system is functioning as it should in challenging times. “It’s, frankly, an example of how our hospitals are working together,” she told reporters at Collingwood General and Marine Hospital. Children’s hospitals have cancelled surgeries to keep ICU beds clear for patients who are critically ill from respiratory viruses this season and have transferred older teens to adult hospitals. In Ottawa, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario has opened a second ICU and has called on the Red Cross to provide staffing assistance.

Source: thestar December 12, 2022 22:17 UTC