Until now, this hasn’t happen during the pandemic in Saskatchewan, but because of capacity issues in the province’s ICUs, a patient with COVID-19 is being transported to Ontario to receive care there, and up to six patients will be transferred by the end of Wednesday. As of this morning (Mon), there were 85 COVID-19 patients in ICUs in Saskatchewan and 39 non-COVID patients for a total of 124.

President of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency and one of the leaders of the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, Marlo Pritchard, says they have been reaching out to other provinces about available skilled ICU medical personnel and also to the United States and the federal government. Many are dealing with their own challenges and aren’t able to spare any health care workers. Because national supports for ICU are scarce, Pritchard says, transferring ICU patients elsewhere is more optimal. He adds that the best way to reduce the number of people in ICUs is to get vaccinated.

CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, Scott Livingstone, says, “We recognize the stress this will cause the families affected. We continue to work every day to maximize capacity to provide care as close to home as possible, but this decision is necessary to maintain the quality of critical care services our patients need. We are extremely thankful to our partners in Ontario for stepping up and providing this support.”

The SHA’s Chief of Emergency Operations Derek Miller, says they work with the ICU physicians and the transport physician to identify patients who would be safe for transport. There is a set of critical criteria involved in the decision making process for transferring a patient.
He notes that transferring a patient out of province is a considerable cost which include the contracted provider, the air crew who move the patient, ground ambulance, and transportation of essential family members who may accompany the patient, and the cost of bringing the recovered patient back.