SUN sounds alarm bells over ICU move at RUH and COVID outbreak at long-term care facility

Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) president Tracy Zambory says nurses are worried about conditions in the newly relocated intensive care unit at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.

The move was made last weekend, according to a statement from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), from the ICU located on the ground level of the hospital to the old pediatric intensive care unit on the third floor.

Zambory says nurses concerned with not only their own safety but also patient safety contacted her immediately.

“We’re talking an intensive care unit,” she said. “This is where people go who are extremely ill. It’s over capacity. We’ve got a room, an area that normally had nine children in it, (and) we’re not trying to squeeze in 12 plus.

“We see that there are beds shoved up against the windows. There’s nothing separating the beds curtain-wise, or partition-wise. There certainly isn’t the ability to have any sort of safe distance if you think about social distancing … for people moving around in there.”

She adds carts and medical equipment are across the hall from patients, and conditions are “deplorable.”

The ICU patients include those who have COVID-19 and others who are suffering from other life-threatening medical issues.

“Patients are so close that they feel there is an infection control issue, that there is an occupational health and safety issue when beds are that close together,” Zambory said. “How are we going to be able to get machinery in there that’s required when we’re talking again (about) an intensive care unit where there’s the potential to need a number of different devices to care for people?”

She says the bottom line is that SUN members are sounding the alarm because they’re worried about patient safety.

“We are being hit hard,” she says, adding SUN has called on the SHA to meet with union officials about the concerns, but the requests have fallen on deaf ears.

650 CKOM requested an interview with the SHA and was told that specific concerns raised by SUN could not be provided. No reason was given for that.

However, a statement from Lori Garchinski, the SHA’s executive director of provincial programs-tertiary care, was provided.

Here are some of the excerpts from that statement.

“To ensure all patients are receiving the level of care they need, and to support care of non-COVID patients, the ICU located on the ground level of Royal University Hospital was moved to the old Pediatric ICU on the third floor on November 3 and 4, 2020. The old Pediatric ICU has more space and can accommodate more COVID positive patients while not putting excess pressure on current staffing levels.

“The Saskatoon Integrated Health Incident Command Centre (IHICC) along with other operational leadership will continue to monitor the capacity of ICU and acute care beds in Saskatoon and will adjust plans accordingly.”

Indian Head long-term care facility COVID-19 outbreak

Zambory is also extremely concerned about a COVID outbreak at the Golden Prairie Home long-term care facility in Indian Head and the nursing resources that are required, especially given that long-term care facility employees are required to remain in their cohorts, or to only work at one facility, in order to try to control the spread of the virus.

“We have four to five residents that have tested positive and we have 20 (as of Tuesday) staff off self-isolating,” she said. “One of them is the one who sounded the alarm for us on the weekend and is showing symptoms of COVID.

“This is a very serious situation. This is what we would classify as a ‘Code Red.’ ”

To add to Zambory’s concerns, she says there has not been a manager at the facility for at least one month. Management of the facility has occurred remotely

“There was no leadership in the building … It would be remote at best,” she said.

Zambory isn’t sure how nurses are going cover the shifts and continue to deliver care safely at other facilities.

“It’s the good old rob Peter to pay Paul staffing model,” she contends. “We can’t keep that staffing model up. COVID has shown that we have ripple effects.”