'We've had patients die waiting for a bed': Vancouver Island doctors frustrated with the unvaccinated
An emergency room doctor in Victoria says patients who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are causing unnecessary delays and even deaths in the health-care system.
"We’ve had patients die on hold waiting for 911. We've had patients die waiting for a bed," Dr. Michelle Tousignant said Wednesday. "I don’t know what a rock bottom is if we're not there already."
The vast majority of COVID-19 patients in intensive care are unvaccinated. With the Delta variant spreading, Dr. David Forrest, who works in the intensive care unit at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, worries we're far from rock bottom.
“I’m extremely worried to be perfectly honest,” said Forrest, speaking from the hospital’s ICU Wednesday. “I think that there is a significant likelihood that we’re going to continue to see a rise in cases in the hospital.”
Tousignant has been on medical leave for a few months because of a concussion. She hopes to return to work soon, but in the meantime, she's taken to social media to educate people about the safety of vaccines as well as their effectiveness.
She says it’s important some of the misinformation online is counteracted by accurate information, and recognizes that the internet has become a major source of information for many people.
A Facebook post she made last week advocating for the importance of vaccines and setting out the impact on the health-care system has been seen by more than 50,000 people.
Both she and Forrest say the recent anti-vaccine protests outside hospitals across B.C., including in Nanaimo, were very demoralizing for health-care workers.
“I’m frustrated. I’m angry about it frankly,” said Forrest.
Tousignant says that kind of backlash towards health-care workers is adding to the immense stress they’re already under during the pandemic.
“One of the reasons that we have the staff shortages that we have is the degree of burnout, the degree of stress.”
Their frustration comes a day after the province announced that more surgeries are being delayed because the system is overloaded and that it’s moving patients from Northern Health to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island because ICUs up there are full.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
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.
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.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Angst and calls for resting places as Surrey, B.C., pet cemetery development continues
A single headstone is all that remains of dozens of markers for long-buried pets in a subdivision in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood, where a half-acre parcel bears a large sign announcing the proposed construction of new homes.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.