The load shedding is being prepared at the CHU de Québec-Université Laval, where medical appointments and operating room activities will be reduced almost by half as of Wednesday.
Only “27 operating rooms will be available out of a total of 48”, in order to “pick up around 60 nurses” to care for patients with COVID-19, announced the President and CEO of the establishment, Martin Beaumont, in a virtual press conference on Sunday.
There will also be half the number of face-to-face medical appointments. Thus, no less than “10,000 appointments could be postponed or converted into telehealth”, which would “free up about fifty workers”, said the CEO.
“These are decisions that are extremely difficult,” he said, explaining that “there are 783 workers from the CHU de Québec who are in isolation”, while the hospital center “was already suffering from a nursing deficiency. and nurses of about 600 ”even before the 5e wave.
As of Sunday, 10 of the 16 intensive care beds reserved for COVID-19 were occupied, as were 52 of the 64 beds upstairs.
Mr. Beaumont, however, was optimistic about the ability of the CHU to care for all potential patients with the disease. “We could go there with a much greater load shedding” whether it is to further reduce surgeries to deal only with emergencies, to cut even more in medical appointments or to “go to other sectors. »Look for staff.
So far, he added, his facility has failed to bring back employees who test positive, as it could due to new guidelines from health officials.
This article was produced with financial support from the Facebook and The Canadian Press News Scholarships.