Alberta will not announce first baby of the new year for third year
Posted December 29, 2022 4:19 pm.
Last Updated December 31, 2022 10:14 am.
For the third year in a row, Alberta is hitting pause on the practice of identifying and announcing the first baby born in the new year.
In an email to CityNews, Alberta Health Services confirmed that hospitals and staff are just too busy to facilitate the tradition.
It comes as pediatric hospitals continue to significant capacity challenges with the ongoing surge of respiratory illnesses.
According to AHS, there has been very little change since the health authority announced emergency provisions just before Christmas to deal with the pressure on the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton.
“Capacity at the Stollery Children’s Hospital continues to be challenged with inpatient capacity at or above 100 per cent,” says AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson said Thursday that pediatric ICU capacity is also at or near 100 per cent at the Stollery.
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AHS has redeployed adult ICU beds in order to meet the needs of pediatric patients. As of now, 10 out of 13 of these available beds are staffed and in use. This is up from the eight in use on December 20th.
In order to manage the surge, AHS has brought in emergency staffing measures such as mandatory overtime, short notice schedule changes, and in some cases the cancellation of holiday staff vacations.
“All healthcare teams, including physicians, are putting in additional hours to assist with our pediatric hospital inpatient service demands,” says Williamson.
“We are extremely grateful to our physicians and staff who continue to go above and beyond during this busy time and are particularly grateful for those who are working this holiday season.”
The last time AHS announced a New Year’s baby was at the start of 2020.
Since then, pandemic pressures have made it difficult for staff to take the extra time to track which child is the first to arrive, let alone invite news media into hospitals.
Williamson says they are hopeful hospitals will be in a better place next year.
