'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
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 employees across the country.