In response to a question on the issue with just adding ICU beds when the supply becomes low she added this clarification.
“I think it’s really important to understand that it’s not as simple a matter of adding a [ICU] bed somewhere because you have to staff it.
For 1 ICU patient you can have over a dozen different skills staff to support that patient.”
Dr. Klassen offered this response to the mood that the Province’s hospitals and medical staff are under during the over year pandemic so far.
“Health Care workers have been impacted by the pandemic. They have had family members who have become ill and may have died. They have had to stay home with sick kids.
They have had all the same issues that all of us have had to deal with. They have also worried about their own health and not bring [Covid] home to their families.
They are dealing with these high work loads. It is disheartening to them to see people not following health measures. Then there are preventable cases that come in. It can be very draining.
Our healthcare workers in our acute care system need our support.
They need it in our encouragement but also in us following the public health measures and decreasing the demand on them.”