Airdrie residents who get sick with COVID-19 to an extent they have to be hospitalized will most likely be treated at the Peter Lougheed Centre in northeast Calgary, according to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.
Kenney held a tele-press conference April 9, taking questions from small-town newspaper reporters and editors. The Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association hosted the press conference.
With Alberta Health Services (AHS) planning to more than triple the province’s capacity for hospital beds and Intensive Care Units (ICU) by the end of April, the Airdrie City View asked Kenney where these beds and units would be located, and if they would be restricted to hospitals.
Kenney replied that COVID-19 patients who have contracted severe cases in Airdrie, as well as other nearby municipalities that do not have their own hospitals, would be treated at the Peter Lougheed Centre.
“We’re going to try to focus COVID patients in a few large urban hospitals, so we do not expect to see COVID patients staying in Airdrie,” he said. “They’d be going to Peter Lougheed, and other patients would be moved out to either home care or to other hospitals – there will be a kind of shifting going on.”
The Alberta Government released its models April 8 for the number of COVID-19 cases the province will potentially experience, including probable, elevated and extreme scenarios. Under the most probable scenario, Alberta could see as many as 800,000 infections and between 400 and 3,100 deaths.
During the probable scenario's peak, 736 to 900 people would be hospitalized in late May, with 220 to 224 people needing critical care in late May and June.
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With the prospective numbers in mind, AHS intends to more than triple its capacity for hospital beds and ICU beds devoted solely to treating COVID-19 patients. According to Kenney, AHS plans to add 1,081 additional ICU beds for COVID-19 patients, as well as more than 1,200 designated hospital beds.
On April 9, AHS announced 100 additional acute care beds would be coming to Peter Lougheed Centre, in a new, temporary structure constructed in the hospital's parking lot.
“Overall, we are shooting for 2,250 designated hospital beds for COVID patients, even though we only expect, in our probable model, to see 818 hospitalized COVID patients at the peak,” Kenney said.
To achieve the increased capacity, AHS will add ICU beds to existing acute-care rooms, convert operating rooms and recovery rooms to ICU capacity, convert procedure and treatment rooms to ICU capacity and use new models of care, such as more aggressive uses of step-down care.
Kenney added having more than 2,200 beds reserved for COVID-19 patients would be a “significant redundant capacity,” as it marks more than a quarter of the province’s total number of hospital beds, but would be necessary in the event of a huge and sudden spike in cases.
“That would be 2,250 of the 8,483 hospital beds across the province,” he said. “As far as Airdrie is concerned, if people need emergency care, it will continue to be there. The acute care beds will continue to be there, and there will be a very strong access to the health system if people become infected and require ICU support from the hospitals.”
AHS also plans to have 761 ventilators available by the end of April for coronavirus patients, according to Kenney, in the event of a severe scenario. There are currently 509 ventilators available throughout the province, with 314 currently dedicated to COVID-19 patients.
—With files from Jennifer Henderson/St. Albert Gazette
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Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
