As Alberta approaches the fall, health-care workers are feeling demoralized and exhausted. The looming respiratory virus season threatens to overwhelm an already strained system, with doctors and nurses voicing concerns about their capacity to handle the influx of patients. Alberta Health Services (AHS) has acknowledged the challenge but says it’s taking steps to ensure patients receive the care they need.
Dr. Arun Abbi, an emergency room physician in Calgary, warns that the situation is already dire. “We’re already at maximum capacity. It’s going to be a long fall,” he said. Abbi describes packed emergency departments, with patients lining hallways on stretchers as staff scramble to keep up.
Alberta Health Services recently issued a memo to workers, acknowledging that the health-care system will face “further capacity challenges” as respiratory illnesses increase in the coming months. CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos outlined measures such as expanding capacity and utilizing EMS offload protocols, allowing paramedics to respond to emergencies more quickly by freeing them from waiting in hospitals.
However, health-care professionals like Dr. Paul Parks, who works in Medicine Hat, say these measures won’t be enough. “This is another call to do more with less,” he said, pointing out that ER departments are often full of admitted patients with no beds available on the wards.
Burnout is a significant concern. Nurses like Jennifer Jackson, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary, worry about their ability to cope with increased COVID-19 and flu cases. “We’re being asked to do more, but we haven’t been given additional resources,” she said.
Although AHS has promised to open temporary beds and recruit more staff, including foreign-trained nurses, Abbi remains skeptical about the impact. “Doctors are tired, and many want to reduce their workload,” he said.
