Amanda Weger said it’s been a scary two weeks since she brought her daughter Avery to Alberta Children’s Hospital, where the 23-month-old is being treated for RSV and the flu. “We originally went to urgent care here in Airdrie and the parking lot was full,” she said. “Well, I’ve decided to go into Children’s.” A rise in respiratory illnesses in children has hit the hospital – with waiting times exceeding 12 hours. With the hospital operating at capacity for some days, Alberta Health Services set up a heated trailer outside as an overflow waiting room and suspended respite care so children’s hospice staff could assist at the hospital. “It was scary, it was very scary,” Weger said. “I saw that trailer unload and my heart just sank, like, are we there?” But, it makes sense, he added. When Weger brought Avery in, the waiting room had chairs lined up to the doors. “When we got there, it was crazy,” he said. “I think when I got there it was three and a half hours just to get tested.” Her heart dropped when she saw the line, she said. However, when a nurse came to help them move them to another chair and noticed Avery’s condition, they were immediately taken to the ICU. Weger said she was shocked to find it full. “The doctor had also told me that, he says, ‘We have 15 kids in here today who are all the same as Avery or worse,’” she said. “And that’s scary right? You have a whole ICU unit full of kids on ventilators. “All these kids are in there because they have some kind of respiratory virus, and most of them – like Avery – had two or more.” Despite being overworked, Weger said the staff has been great. But he worries about the continued strain on a health care system already strained by the pandemic. Avery was born during COVID-19, spending time in the ICU during the lockdown. And that wasn’t as bad as what her daughter is watching live now, Weger said. “This is scarier to me because we’ve completely exhausted our health care system now for almost three years and now we’re getting hit with this huge wave of sick kids,” he said. “It’s rough. I feel for all of us who are in there right now, because it’s scary. The nurses are so overworked.” Weger said Avery is improving and the family hopes to get her home in time for her birthday on Christmas Day. But Avery has yet to pass the tests she needs to be released from prison. “He can’t come home. And it’s just disappointing,” she said. “Well, I know he’s in the best place, but we’ve had three Christmases in a row where he’s been in hospital or trauma or chaos, so I was really hoping this would be our first normal Christmas.” The province says it is working to build capacity, but hopes the increase in RSV and flu may soon subside.
