A day inside packed children’s hospital

Michelle Bastin’s three-yearold son Elliott had problems breathing for about a week when she brought him to B.C. Children’s Hospital, but the family had to wait nearly eight hours to see a doctor in the jam-packed facility.

“We came here because his breathing was very laboured, his fever was really bad, and energy-wise he was not doing well at all,” recalled Bastin, as her son lay against her on a bed in the ED, or emergency department, an intravenous tube attached to his left arm and heartbeat-monitoring electrodes stuck to his chest.

“You’re stressed out and no one wants to come to emergency, but you kind of make that decision thinking, ‘I don’t have any other options.’ So you have to do what you have to do. But waiting, you just get concerned.”

When they arrived at B.C. Children’s at 2 a.m. on Nov. 24, a trauma patient was understandably being given first priority by the stretched-thin staff. But sitting indefinitely in the waiting room can be torture for worried parents, especially for Bastin, who had twice taken her son to the ED in a different hospital but his symptoms persisted.

After 6½ hours, Elliott was brought to an examination room, and about an hour later finally saw a doctor. Tests showed his oxygen level was at 86 per cent of what it should be, his heart was beating too fast, and he was likely suffering from serious asthma, his mother said.

While the hospital, like most others in the country, had an obvious shortage of medical staff, Bastin described the people who treated her son as wonderful and patient.

Waiting times at B.C. Children’s have been as long as 12 hours, mirroring the situation in many emergency departments across Canada, driven by an early season of viral infections , in particular respiratory syncytial virus , known as RSV, and influenza. Exacerbating this is an increase in COVID cases, as well as a health-care workforce that is short-staffed and burnt-out by the pandemic.

The ED is usually the busiest in the winter, when kids catch viruses at schools and daycares, seeing an average of 140 patients daily. But over the past week or so, that number has jumped to 150 to 190 children a day, said Dr. Garth Meckler, the hospital’s head of pediatric emergency medicine.

“Honestly, even with all of the challenges that you’ve heard with staffing and increased numbers of people seeking care, I feel, and my colleagues feel, like we are still able to meet the needs of the sickest kids,” said Meckler.

It’s the kids who are less sick who face the longest waiting times. Meckler recognizes that is frustrating for their parents. “We’re empathetic because most of us (staff) are parents as well. And we know that the most important thing to us is our children’s health and when they suffer, we suffer.”

Meckler, dressed in blue scrubs, spoke with Postmedia during a tour of the hospital to witness how staff and patients are handling this unprecedented surge, which could continue for several months until flu season is over.

While her son is recovering well, Bastin is disappointed with those who oversee and fund the health-care system. The previously calm woman began to cry, asking why there was not better planning when governments knew the flu season was coming and there were warning signs this year could be harsh.

And she’s bewildered that health-care workers who toiled through the COVID pandemic are now working long hours again during this national flu epidemic .

“The health-care system has been through so much with COVID, and it’s just absolutely unacceptable that it’s still continuing on,” the Langley mother said. “We should be kissing the feet of all the health-care providers that just got us through the last two years, instead it seems like it’s going the opposite.”

Health Minister Adrian Dix told reporters his government “knew it was going to be a hard season” and made adjustments, such as last month creating a secondary emergency room at B.C. Children’s for less-serious patients.

The NDP government’s handling of this crisis, though, has been criticized.

While Green Leader Sonia Furstenau applauded Dix’s pledge on Sunday to speed up accreditation for foreign doctors, she said steps are needed to address the emergency room chaos right now.

“Currently, the most pressing issue is the level of illness amongst children in B.C., and the dire conditions in pediatric hospitals,” she said.

On Monday, Premier David Eby pledged a new medical school would open in 2026 at Simon Fraser University and graduate much-needed, additional doctors by 2030. But the opposition Liberals said this promise was years behind schedule and will do nothing to immediately help the health care system, which the party alleges is “nearing a point of total collapse.”

Dix told reporters his ministry has also crafted a new salary deal for family doctors and given pharmacists greater powers . “We’re very concerned too, and that’s why we’re taking the steps we are taking,” he added.

With the increase in influenza and RSV, especially among children, Dix urged people to get vaccinated against COVID to reduce the chances of getting that virus as well.

If ED congestion worsens, Dix said, other steps can be taken to increase capacity in hospitals, such as delaying non-urgent surgeries — although he said that is also disruptive for patients.

“That’s a step that you take only when you need to, and we’re not at that point yet,” he said.

Waiting times at B.C. Children’s have been as long as 12 hours, mirroring the situation in many emergency departments across Canada.