Five-year-old Rossy Hipkin was just one week away from a surgery that could have changed his life, according to his mom. That surgery might have, for the first time, allowed him to use his arms.
Then came the email: his Nov. 25 operation was cancelled because of COVID-19, a doctor wrote.
“It was hard. We’d been building him up, … telling him, ‘You’re going to get muscles’ and ‘You’re going to be able to use your arms,’ and things like that,” said Corina Heppner, Rossy’s mom.
“And then we have to say, ‘Well, you’re not going to get your muscle.’”
Facebook/Corina Heppner
Over a month later, Rossy still hasn’t had his surgery. And he’s not alone.
Hospitals across Canada have been forced to cancel and delay surgeries as COVID-19 cases fill up hospital beds and strain resources, according to doctors working on the front lines. There’s a risk that if Omicron cases keep trending upwards, emergency care — a hospital’s ability to quickly respond to everything from a sprained wrist to a heart attack — could be impacted too, according to Dr. Gerald Evans, an infectious disease specialist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.
“We’re all afraid that our ability to continue to do that emergent care is really, really being taxed by the staff absences and of course, the large influx of patients with Omicron.”
What does an overwhelmed hospital look like?
When hospital capacity gets strained, one of the first actions hospitals can take is to cancel or delay what they describe as “non-urgent” surgeries. It’s a step that provinces like Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta have taken to help reckon with the Omicron wave.
But just because an operation isn’t seen as “urgent,” doesn’t mean it’s not essential for someone’s quality of life, according to medical experts. Elective surgery “simply means that the surgery can be scheduled in advance,” Johns Hopkins Medicine says, and it “does not always mean it is optional.”
“Even stuff that is deemed non-essential is still important,” said Dr. Christopher Labos, a cardiologist and epidemiologist.
“If you’re somebody who’s waiting for a hip replacement and that just keeps getting delayed and delayed and delayed, you’re going to be living with chronic pain for months, if not years.”
2:05 COVID-19: Overcapacity Quebec hospitals to transfer patients to CHSLDs
COVID-19: Overcapacity Quebec hospitals to transfer patients to CHSLDs
Over half a million fewer surgeries were performed across Canada during the first 16 months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous years, according to a report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), published last month. The bulk of that decline happened in the early months of the pandemic.
But the latest wave is still having a real impact on non-urgent procedures, Evans said.
“A lot of things that people require for their health that may be not-urgent or not-emergent tend to be a little bit more difficult to accommodate when there are large numbers of patients in the hospital,” he explained.
That includes surgeries like Rossy’s bid to gain the use of his arms. Rossy suffers from Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita, which limits his joints and range of motion. He can’t use his arms from the shoulder down, but surgery would have moved some muscle from his leg to his arm, and that could have helped him regain some movement.
“The hardest part is when you hear, ‘Well, it only affects the vulnerable’ or ‘Only the high risk and the vulnerable are dying,’” said Heppner, Rossy’s mom.
“To us, that sounds like you’re telling us that our kids don’t matter.”
As children like Rossy wait for non-urgent — but life-changing — surgery, doctors like Evans are worried that the rising Omicron cases could start to impact emergency medicine, too. Emergency care can be “as simple as a sprained ankle” or “complicated, like a heart attack or a stroke.”
“That’s the kind of care that you can’t defer,” Evans said.
“That person needs immediate attention.”
How is Omicron overwhelming hospitals?
The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is spreading fast around the world, including in Canada.
On Tuesday, Canada reported over 34,000 new COVID cases and 74 deaths, for a total of over 400,000 active cases. But a number of provinces have restricted their COVID-19 testing as they drown in demand, prompting the Public Health Agency of Canada to warn that daily case counts are likely underestimating the true burden of disease.
As of Jan. 3, 4,106 of these COVID-19 patients were reportedly being cared for in Canadian hospitals — more than double the 1,919 patients reported just one week prior on Dec. 27.
2:08 Omicron cases pushing Ontario hospitals to the brink on both capacity and staffing
Omicron cases pushing Ontario hospitals to the brink on both capacity and staffing
According to Health Canada, 640 of these patients were in intensive care units as of Jan. 3, while 274 were mechanically ventilated.
New data also indicates that 46 per cent of people currently in Ontario hospitals with COVID-19 were admitted for other reasons, meaning their COVID infection isn’t what put them in the hospital — it was just discovered when they arrived.
“It’s pretty clear that as hospitalizations go up and up and up, there will come a point where the hospital system becomes overwhelmed,” Labos said.
“We have to be aware of the fact that unless we can bend the curve in a significant way, we’re going to start to have a major issue in the very next little while.”
It’s not just hospital admissions, either. With the highly transmissible Omicron variant ripping through Canadian communities, health-care workers are getting sick, too.
“As health-care workers get sick and you have less personnel, sometimes you have to close beds simply because you don’t have the personnel to actually staff them,” Labos explained.
“So as more and more people are waiting for fewer and fewer beds that are available, that creates longer lines — and so you may end up waiting in the emergency room to get a bed for days, frankly.”
How do we prevent COVID from overwhelming hospitals?
The main thing Canadians can do to prevent COVID-19 from overwhelming hospitals right now is to follow public health advice: reduce their contacts and get vaccinated.
“If we can keep cases down, it means staffing levels can be maintained at hospitals. It means we will not be stressing out the hospitals as much with COVID admissions. That’s the big thing that we can do at the moment,” Evans said.
“Public health measures, getting third shots into people, are all important parts of it, as well as some of the measures that have been put into place to reduce social contact. And that’s working.”
Canadians can greatly reduce their risk of overwhelming the hospitals if they get their vaccines, according to government data. In its Tuesday epidemiological update, the government reported that compared to unvaccinated cases, fully vaccinated cases were “79 per cent less likely to be hospitalized” and “71 per cent less likely to die as a result of their illness.”
It’s something Dr. Michel Haddad, the chief of staff at Bluewater Health in Sarnia, has witnessed firsthand.
“About 60 per cent of our admitted hospitalized patients are unvaccinated, which is more than the provincial (rate) and 90 per cent of ICU are unvaccinated, which is also much more than the provincial (rate),” he said.
1:43 Alberta health minister says 15,000 surgeries delayed during 4th wave of COVID-19
Alberta health minister says 15,000 surgeries delayed during 4th wave of COVID-19 – Nov 4, 2021
Heppner, who is still waiting for her son’s surgery, says Canadians “shouldn’t wait until COVID affects them directly” before they take steps to protect others, like getting vaccinated or following public health advice.
“I feel like it’s the bare minimum that we can do to possibly help others,” Heppner said.
HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.
Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.
Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.
Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.
Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.
Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.
The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Pearce and Nathan Saliba scored in the second half — the first goals of their careers — and CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.
“In the second half, the guys came out a little more ambitious and above all, more connected,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “It was a great second half of resilience and fighting spirit. Nathan and Sam were impressive.
“Impressive in covering the gaps and compensating for the teammates, and the individual defending – yes it’s true, it is a lot of weight on their shoulders, but that’s the job.”
New England (8-16-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Bobby Wood’s third goal of the season. Teenage defender Peyton Miller notched his first assist in his fourth career start and sixth appearance and Carles Gil picked up his ninth of the season. Peyton, at 16 years, 315 days old, is the eighth youngest player in league history to record his first assist.
The Revolution took a two-goal lead in the 35th minute and held it through halftime when 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic took a pass from Gil and scored his third goal of the season and career in his first full season in the league. It was the 73rd regular-season assist in Gil’s career, tying him with Steve Ralston for the most in club history.
Montreal (7-12-10) pulled within a goal in the 54th minute when Pearce scored off a free kick after defender George Campbell drew a foul on New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye. It was the first goal for Pearce in his third career start and fourth appearance.
“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn’t in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point,” Pearce said. “We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game. Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”
Montreal scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on the first career goal by Saliba, a 20-year-old midfielder. Saliba has made 34 starts and 48 appearances with Montreal in his two seasons in the league. Campbell snagged his second assist of the season and the third of his career.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’m extremely happy that I was able to score it and that it can help the team take this important point on the road,” Saliba said. “Pearce’s first goal gave us really good momentum and we kept up the pressure to go for a second goal. We got more solid defensively, and we came back ready after halftime, to push for these 3 points.”
Aljaz Ivacic finished with four saves in goal for the Revolution.
Jonathan Sirois stopped four shots for Montreal.
New England beat Montreal 5-0 on the road on Aug. 24.
New England leads the all-time series 16-13-4. Montreal improves to 5-8-2 on the road against the Revs.
The Revolution travel to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.
The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.
García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.
“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”
Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.
The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.
“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”
Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”
“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”
Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.
Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.
Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.
“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. … INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.
UP NEXT
Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.
