Manitoba offers help to Alberta, which is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases

MANITOBA (CityNews) – The interim premier of Manitoba says if neighbouring provinces getting hit hard by the fourth wave of COVID-19 find their hospitals pushed overcapacity, Manitoba would want to offer assistance if it’s possible to do so.

Manitoba Premier Kelvin Goertzen says Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe have not directly reached out for help, however when Manitoba needed to send patients out of province for care the request for help was met, and Goertzen hopes if Manitoba was in a position to return the assistance, it would.

“Of course, you know, we benefited by support from Saskatchewan and Alberta, particularly Ontario during the third wave, and if we had the ability to offer support that I think we would want to,” Goertzen told a news conference on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Alberta declared a state of public health emergency and Jason Kenney apologized for his government’s handling of the pandemic.

On Thursday, Scott Moe announced on social media, the fourth wave is putting significant capacity pressure on their healthcare system.

Darleen Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses says she is grateful for the help Manitobans received during the third wave, but she is seriously concerned Manitoba isn’t in a position to help if the request for aid comes.

“Which is a shame, because it was great the other provinces managed to support us and it’s so appreciated, but I think the fact that we had to move patients out of province is a very good indicator that Manitoba is undoubtedly in a critical nursing shortage, and may be in a shortage that’s bigger than the rest of the provinces,” she said.

Jackson says right now there are over 2,200 vacant nursing positions in Manitoba that need to be filled, meanwhile nurses who are showing up for work are exhausted and dealing with what she calls moral injury, which is when nurses want to provide better care than is possible, due to staff shortages and lacking capacity in hospital.

Nahanni Fontaine of the Manitoba NDP wishes the province was in a better place to help our neighbours, however for months she has been raising the concern that Manitoba is in a crisis in respect to a nurses shortage, and in the same way Manitoba called in the military for support in the battle against COVID-19, it might be time for Alberta to do the same.

“The public should understand that they have nurses, they have doctors that can go in, and be deployed, and help with whatever they need in a hospital or a personal care home,” she said.

Jackson added that even with Manitoba COVID case counts comparatively low at this time, if the province doesn’t deal with the nursing shortage soon, Manitobans entering hospitals could find their quality of care being impacted.

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