The pressure on emergencies, particularly in pediatrics, is significant, with an impact on intensive care units, which are also overwhelmed.
• Also read: Crisis in an emergency: The PQ denounces the government’s immobility
• Also read: Occupancy rate of 300%: the perfect thunderstorm in Sainte-Justine
• Also read: Overwhelmed emergencies: Quebec sets up a crisis team
At the Children’s Hospital of Montreal, 4 new patients arrive in the ICU every day, but the 22 available beds are occupied.
Children are often very young, very ill, and infected with respiratory viruses, including the new respiratory syncytial virus.
“You see he can’t breathe, he’s coughing, coughing, coughing. You see him working a lot on his lungs, his little stomach that really pushes back a lot. It’s panicking, ”worries Émilie Audet, mother of little Sacha, who has respiratory syncytial virus.
The child’s father, who is also present at his side, does not hide his anguish.
“You tell yourself they’re doing their best, but at some point the need is so great you can’t wait to see the improvement. If we’re told we’re going to ICU, there’s real danger, then he really needs help,” he says.
The situation is critical as the intensive care team has run out of beds.
“We don’t have enough beds in the hospital. For respiratory support, for supplemental oxygen and going to the intensive care unit…we’re overwhelmed,” explains Dr. Christos Karatzios, infectious disease specialist at Montreal Children’s Hospital.
The pandemic would once again be in question.
“These viruses are nothing new. But this year things are looking up. During detention we had the opportunity to stop the transmission of the flu and other respiratory viruses. COVID is more contagious and harder to control. Now, with deconfinement, stopping wearing the mask, we have a wave that’s skyrocketing for all viruses,” explains Dr. Karatzios.