'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
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'