Canada - Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children denies claim its transferring ICU patients to U.S. hospitals but some children being transferred far from home and head of ER says illness is not Covid

[Emily]

https://www.cp24.com/news/toronto-s-...tals-1.6108626
Published Thursday, October 13, 2022 9:54PM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, October 13, 2022 9:54PM EDT

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children says reports that it is moving intensive care patients to hospitals south of the border are false.
In a statement, SickKids said, “There is no validity to recent claims that children are being transferred from our intensive care units to hospitals in the US.”
The statement comes after a post on social media claiming the hospital is transferring its ICU patients to Buffalo.
“While the volumes in our PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) are exceedingly high, we continue to mobilize resources to meet the clinical needs of these very ill patients,” the hospital added.
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Dr. Jason Fischer, division head of emergency medicine at SickKids, told CP24 last week an overwhelming number of patients are currently visiting the hospital due to a rise in viral infections and a lack of primary caregivers...

[Emily]

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/10/14/ontario-pediatric-hospitals-are-under-strain-and-some-are-transferring-kids-far-from-home.html

Ontario pediatric hospitals are under strain, and some are transferring kids far from home

Under huge strain, some hospitals including in the GTA have been forced to send critically ill kids as far as Ottawa to find them a pediatric ICU bed.
By Megan OgilvieHealth ReporterFri., Oct. 14, 2022
Ontario’s pediatric hospitals are under tremendous strain as they weather a third pandemic fall and are confronting record-long waits in emergency departments and overcrowded inpatient units, forcing some critically ill children to be sent hours away from home for ICU care.

Hospital leaders say more children are coming to pediatric emergency departments this fall — and more are arriving sicker and need to be admitted — quickly filling inpatient beds.

The surge in kids needing care is leading to long waits in ERs, with at least one hospital reporting waits of more than 30 hours, and forcing others to cancel scheduled surgeries.
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Dr. Ronald Cohn, president and CEO of the Hospital for Sick Children, said the number of kids needing hospital care at this time of year is something SickKids “has never seen before.” He said the rise is not due to COVID infections; as of Oct. 13 the hospital had two pediatric patients with COVID...