ON: Flu season hits Hamilton hard- patients wait 90 mins. for an ambulance

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Source: http://www.cbc.ca/hamilton/news/story/2012/12/18/hamilton-flu-season.html


Flu season hits Hamilton earlier than usual
By Kaleigh Rogers, CBC News
Posted: Dec 18, 2012 4:16 PM ET
Last Updated: Dec 18, 2012 4:57 PM ET

Hamiltonians may get a gift they didn?t ask for this Christmas ? the flu. Public Health Services is reporting flu season has started earlier than normal this year and they expect flu cases to peak over the holiday season...

...The first laboratory-reported case came on Nov. 9. Since then 67 confirmed cases have been reported in the Hamilton region.

These numbers represent severe cases of the flu that land people in hospital, where they get tested for influenza. They don?t include the more common cases of individuals who get sick and stay home to rest, Meghani said...

 

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Re: ON: Flu season hits Hamilton hard- patients wait 90 mins. for an ambulance

Source: http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/864658--patients-wait-90-minutes-for-an-ambulance



Joanna Frketich
Sat Jan 05 2013 13:06:47
Patients wait 90 minutes for an ambulance
Flu season overwhelming
Flu is causing the city?s worst ambulance shortages, increasing response times to more than 90 minutes for some patients.

Urgent patients are waiting more than 90 minutes for paramedics to arrive as flu causes one of the city?s worst ambulance shortages.

There was one ambulance or less to respond to calls in the city for at least seven hours on Thursday and more than four hours on Friday.

The city has had to call on neighbouring emergency services in Halton, Niagara and Haldimand to provide ambulances....

....Doug Waugh, acting chief, says the past week and a half has had the highest surge in ambulance calls that he can remember in a flu season.

In addition, overcrowded emergency departments are taking longer to off-load patients and get paramedics back on the road.

St. Joseph?s hospital alone says the number of ambulances coming into the emergency department has jumped to 55 a day from 40. It has opened up more beds in the hospital to try to manage.

?It?s a big spike,? said spokesperson Victoria Raab. ?Every strategy in our tool kit to try to manage that surge is in place right now.?

Hamilton General Hospital has had up to six patients with influenza in the emergency department at one time. These patients need to be isolated and the area cleaned much more thoroughly so it slows the entire department down...