'We will take action': Manitoba not ruling out military help as emergency rooms overflow
The Manitoba Government could turn to the military for help as it struggles with staffing shortages, overcrowding, and in some cases, temporary closures of emergency rooms.
A lack of staff is creating a bottleneck in the healthcare system. It's a problem so severe that Premier Heather Stefanson isn't ruling out asking for military assistance.
"We will continue to assess the situation through [Emergency Management Office], and if it's necessary, we will take action," Stefanson said at a news conference Tuesday.
The Manitoba Nurses' Union said the current situation inside emergency rooms is fuelling burnout and driving nurses to leave their jobs. It said in some cases, patients are being put in break rooms and hallways to help clear the emergency room.
"We spend all day every day apologizing," said Darlene Jackson, the union's president. "Apologizing to patients because we haven't had time to get to them as quickly as they deserve because when you add more patients, they are not adding more nurses."
According to Jackson, there are about 2,500 vacancies in Manitoba affecting all corners of the province.
On Friday, Pine Falls Health Complex was forced to temporarily close its emergency department due to a lack of staff.
Health Minister Audrey Gordon said fixing the issue is a top priority.
"We are committed to working with those communities to get those emergency departments reopen, to staffing them," said Gordon.
She said the province is working to acquire, train and retain more nurses, and noted the province is actively meeting with frontline health leaders to come up with more solutions.
"We know that the system is under incredible pressures right now, and we are all around a table of solutions talking about how we can relieve those pressures," she said.
In a statement to CTV News, Shared Health said current wait times are a concern to everyone in the healthcare system.
It noted patients requiring urgent care continue to be seen quickly, and all patients are triaged upon arrival.
The health provider said ambulances are taking lower-acuity patients to urgent care centres instead of emergency rooms and are implementing a physician-in-triage model of care to help alleviate the strain.
As these temporary fixes work to lessen the burden, the premier says the province is watching to see if more help is needed.
"It's accessed on a day-by-day, an hour-by-hour basis throughout our entire system. We will continue to work closely with Shared Health to make sure we overcome some of those challenges," Stefanson said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Trudeau promises $1B in loans for child-care providers to expand care centres
The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.