Surgeries delayed at Chinook Regional Hosptial as COVID-19 hospitalizations increase

Staff will be displaced for at least one month and will result in a loss of eight per cent of non-emergency surgeries and a loss of 30 per cent of cardio-respiratory outpatient services.

“That means our friends, family, and neighbours will have to wait to get the healthcare they need,” said Shannon Phillips, MLA for Lethbridge-West. “This strain on the Chinook Hospital is the direct result of Premier Jason Kenney’s policy of acting last and acting least to contain COVID-19 and its effect on both our health care system and our economy.”

Alberta currently has the highest COVID-19 infection rate of any Canadian province and four times as many active cases as British Columbia.

As of May 12, the South Zone has 41 people in hospital, with 12 of whom in the ICU.

Towards the end of March, 40 doctors from across Southern Alberta plead with the public to take the pandemic more seriously as intensive care units at Chinook were near capacity.

“Several weeks ago, when we had a massive outbreak here in Lethbridge, I called for a several step common-sense plan and one of those things was to provide more briefings from AHS to local MLA’s, the mayor and council as well because we had the governments’ frustrating efforts to get information to the public,” said Phillips.

Through a leaked internal memo from AHS, it was revealed that contact tracing is once again overwhelmed. The UCP Government has asked small business owners to be responsible for contact tracing and isolation instructions for their employees.

“I think we can all agree that small businesses in this province and the people that work for them have better things to do than Mr. Kenney’s job for him,” added Phillips. “It is incredible that after creating this crisis for small business owners, giving them less supports than we see in other provinces to get them through this crisis, the province is now asking them to pick up the pieces in the health care system.”

Phillips says yesterday, Jason Kenney, Health Minister Tyler Shandro, and Lethbridge-East MLA Nathan Neudorf were not focused on the priority of the economy or healthcare, instead, “they were not trying to fix the contact tracing system, or stop CRH from being overwhelmed. They spent all day bickering about internal UCP melodrama.”

Starting Monday, Phillips says, the UCP Government should be going back into the legislature to provide paid sick leave for all Albertans to prevent more cases.

“We should be providing WCB coverage for essential workers who get COVID-19 in a workplace outbreak. We need focused leadership that is working on the critical problems that are facing Alberta families and businesses today.”

As of Thursday, the South Zone has 1,255 active cases, with Lethbridge sitting at 417 active infections.

LNN has reached out to Lethbridge-East MLA Nathan Neudorf, a member of the UCP, for comments.

by Karsen Marczuk

Surgeries delayed at Chinook Regional Hosptial as COVID-19 hospitalizations increase

Our Community