Crisis at McMaster Children’s Hospital sends critically ill child to London
When a Hamilton four-year-old was rescued from an east Mountain house fire and needed critical care, McMaster Children's Hospital had no space left.
The child was initially without vital signs when found by firefighters on the main level of 46 Garden Cres., just west of East 24th Street, on Nov. 18.
After being revived by Hamilton firefighters and paramedics, the child was in critical, life-threatening condition. Nine other children who escaped the fire also needed to be taken to hospital.
The blaze was just 19 minutes away from one of the best places in Ontario for children to receive care - Hamilton is one of four cities in the province to have a specialized children's hospital.
But a surge of viral illness over the last two months has left pediatric care in crisis in Ontario.
On that Friday, McMaster was already caring for 14 kids requiring the highest level of critical care on a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) funded for 12.
There were 15 children in the emergency department sick enough to be admitted to hospital but no open beds for them.
The hospital's occupancy hit 134 per cent that day. Hospitals are full at 100 per cent occupancy so anything above that requires opening beds not funded by the province and finding a way to staff them.
The high price of that overcrowding was a four-year-old needing critical care having to be sent roughly 90 minutes away to the Children's Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre after being stabilized in Hamilton.
The McMaster Children's Hospital PICU was overcapacity, necessitating movement to London," Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) said in a statement. We were saddened to learn of the house fire and those who were injured as a result, and our best wishes go out to the entire family."
The crisis has only gotten worse since Friday with McMaster now treating one and a half times as many kids as it has funded beds.
Occupancy shot up to 154 per cent Wednesday - it was consistently between 130 to 140 per cent last week.
On Wednesday morning, 20 kids were waiting in the emergency department for a bed in the hospital.
The PICU still had 14 critically ill kids in a unit meant for 12.
Our ICU remains extremely busy," stated HHS. Inpatient occupancy ... remains high."
The situation in London is also increasingly strained with a decision to reduce surgeries being made late last week as the children's hospital was up to 115 per cent occupancy.
McMaster already cut back surgeries requiring a hospital stay on Nov. 4 - weeks after it raised alarm about surgical backlogs reaching the point that 60 per cent of kids waiting were missing the optimal window recommended to ensure no lifelong consequences for development.
The surge of sick kids has come as HHS struggles with unprecedented staffing shortages. McMaster alone had 425 job openings - 123 of them in nursing - from July to October.
Children's Healthcare Canada, the Canadian Paediatric Society and the Canadian Association of Paediatric Nurses have appealed to the provincial and federal governments to fix the crisis. Their joint call to action was released on Friday - the same day the Hamilton child was sent to London.
The convergence of health-care workforce shortages, a particularly difficult respiratory virus season, COVID-19, increased mental-health admissions and long-standing backlogs for surgical, child development and diagnostic interventions has overwhelmed child and youth health-care systems within both hospital and community-based settings," the organizations said in a joint statement.
There are some signs that the surge of viral illness - that has come well ahead of typical respiratory virus season - is easing.
The city's weekly update shows COVID and influenza spread are no longer high and increasing.
COVID-19 transmission in Hamilton is moderate and decreasing," stated the update Wednesday. Influenza transmission in Hamilton is moderate and stable."
However, the city doesn't report on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which has been one of the main drivers of the crisis.
Seniors are also vulnerable to the fall surge of viral illnesses with the city reporting five COVID deaths from Nov. 15 to Nov. 22. Two were Hamiltonians age 80 and older, while three were seniors in their 70s. Hamilton's pandemic fatalities are now up to 637.
There are also large and deadly ongoing COVID outbreaks in seniors' homes. Idlewyld Manor on the west Mountain has had 30 test positive and two die in an outbreak declared Nov. 4. Amica Dundas has seen 79 infected and one die since Sept. 26. There have been 60 cases at Arbour Creek Long Term Care Centre in Stoney Creek since Oct. 20, and 40 infections at Meadowlands Retirement Community in Ancaster since Oct. 13.
In total, Hamilton had 21 active COVID outbreaks in high-risk settings as of Tuesday. That number has been decreasing over the past three weeks from 29 ongoing outbreaks on Nov. 8.
COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, test positivity, wastewater signal and the number of active outbreaks are decreasing, while ICU admissions remain stable," stated the city's update. The Omicron subvariant BA.5 continues to be the dominant subvariant."
In addition to the COVID outbreaks, Hamilton had four other respiratory outbreaks in institutional settings as of Tuesday. That was up from two on Nov. 8.
Public health strongly recommends wearing a mask indoors especially when it's crowded.
Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board voted Monday to ask students and staff to wear masks in schools again to combat the spread of viruses overwhelming pediatric care.
Joanna Frketich is a health reporter at The Spectator. jfrketich@thespec.com