‘It is a lot worse than what you think it is’: Regina nurse describes ICU conditions

As the province continues to see intensive care units filled with COVID patients, a nurse at the Regina General Hospital (RGH) is speaking out on what conditions really look like.

Whitney Walker-Ross got her nursing degree in 2015 and started working in the ICU at RGH two years later.

She says as hospitalizations surge, so does exhaustion and burnout for her and other nurses.

“The burnout is real. It’s affecting me so hard. As soon as I leave that hospital and I go home, I’m usually completely numb emotionally,” Walker-Ross said. “On my days off, I am very, very, exhausted and fatigued where I can’t get anything done.

“Somedays I don’t know what I got myself into. Dealing with situations like this was not it, but at the end of the day this is something that I do truly love.”

The province currently has more COVID patients in ICUs than ever before.

There were 52 ICU patients battling COVID as of Friday, an increase of four from Thursday’s report and one more than the previous high of 51 recorded on Tuesday.

Regina in particular is seeing the worst of it. There are 35 ICU cases in the Regina region compared to 11 in the Saskatoon area.

The General has ended up having to put multiple people per room as well as redirect patients to other hospitals.

As the numbers of ICU cases rise, people have been protesting outside the hospital to express their anger towards current health measures that are in place.

Walker-Ross condemned the people choosing to protest; she says the province’s current COVID situation couldn’t be anything further from a hoax.

“When the family members that are saying goodbye to our patients that have died and they have to walk out those doors and see those really selfish and incompetent people, my heart breaks for them,” Walker-Ross said. “My heart also breaks for my co-workers who I know are busting their butts along with all hospital staff.

“We’ve been dealing with this since last year and it has not been getting any easier.”

She wasn’t the only one to condemn what has been going on outside of the RGH.

Mayor Sandra Masters, Premier Scott Moe and official Opposition Leader Ryan Meili have also voiced their disappointment in the protests which oppose various pandemic measures.

With the light at the end of the tunnel looking further and further away, Walker-Ross believes more frontline workers getting vaccinated is essential for cases and hospitalizations to stop their uphill climb.

She is also calling for the premier to reconsider declining to visit an ICU, as she said visiting one is imperative to understand the current state of ICUs in the province.

“This perspective is significant. It’s more than just counting numbers as you get to see the faces of these cases that we’re dealing with,” she said. “I just don’t understand why the government is not adamant on wanting to see the whole perspective.

“We’re tired of COVID too. We are just as sick and tired of it as everyone else. We are all suffering together. It doesn’t make it easier that we’re the ones who have to see it at face value and then go home and see more of it whether it’s on social media, TV or anywhere else.”

Walker-Ross hopes the public will take the guidelines seriously so the suffering among families and health-care workers will stop.

“If I had the power to give anyone a visual, a behind-the-scenes look of what our staff is doing to provide these patients the care they need, you would be in complete shock,” she said. “It is a lot worse than you think it is.”