A Calgary mother whose son needs emergency medical care is pleading for people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to relieve the pressure on Alberta鈥檚 health care system.
Sara Mathieu issued the call for vaccinations last week, through a poignant social media post, describing the emergency brain surgery her four-year-old son, Zav, needs, but cannot immediately receive, due to Alberta鈥檚 worsening COVID-19 situation.
Mathieu is urging people to get vaccinated in order to relieve the pressure on Alberta鈥檚 hospital staffing resources and infrastructure.
鈥淚t is the number one way to prevent this illness from bogging down our system and protecting our community,鈥� she said.
As of Tuesday, Sept. 28, Alberta reported 20,513 active cases of COVID-19 and 1,100 hospitalizations, 263 of which are in intensive care and an overall ICU occupancy of 318. Alberta also reported that 83.2 per cent of its citizens 12-plus have at least one vaccine dose, while 74 per cent of those 12-plus are fully vaccinated.
Mathieu, who grew up in Cranbrook, said the escalating number of hospitalizations and ICU admissions due to the pandemic is causing medical staff redeployment and less available operating room time.
Those redeployments are further delaying surgery for her son, who is living with hippocampal sclerosis, the most common form of medication-resistant epilepsy, and has been navigating treatment through the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital, but is currently at home on medication.
While diagnosed with epilepsy as an infant, the family learned in early September he would need emergency surgery to get the seizures, which impact areas of the brain affecting memory and speech, under control.
However, in conversations Mathieu has had with medical staff at the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital, doctors need to apply for operating room time due to a pandemic strain on resources 鈥� applications which are triaged against others in order to determine priority care and procedures.
鈥淚 know the doctors at the hospital are pushing as much as they can,鈥� Mathieu said. 鈥淎gain, it鈥檚 a matter of when they apply, does he get accepted? So they really are pushing for that and the hope is that they will get us something, but they don鈥檛 know. Are we talking days? Are we talking weeks? Are we talking months? And they honestly cannot say.
鈥淚 think the hardest piece in that is the not knowing. How long are we on this? How long are we sitting here? How long are we waiting?鈥�
If their application does get approved, it鈥檚 a 24-72 hour window to 鈥渄rop everything鈥� in preparation for the procedure, she added.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e surgical application is approved, you鈥檙e in, you go,鈥� Mathieu said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 how it runs right now, because they have no notice, they can only book the O-R a day or two ahead, because they don鈥檛 know who is going to be able to staff those operating rooms.鈥�
A spokesperson with Alberta Health Services confirmed that all surgeries and procedures that don鈥檛 have to be completed within a three-day window have been postponed across Alberta, which equates to 75 per cent of all surgeries usually completed within the provincial health care system.
Any surgical procedures that must be completed within a three-day window will continue, including urgent and emergent surgeries, as well as prioritized cancer surgeries, the spokesperson added.
Mathieu said the importance of vaccinating against COVID-19 extends beyond Calgary and Alberta, but also into British Columbia as well, given that the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital serves patients in border communities such as Cranbrook, noting that friends have stayed at her house while taking a child to appointments or consultations.
鈥淎s much as it might look like a Calgary issue or an Alberta issue, it is so much more than that,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f people in B.C. are getting more vaccinated and people in Alberta have a higher population of vaccination, we know that these two provinces intermingle, and there鈥檚 no way of stopping that 鈥� and nor do we want to 鈥� but it鈥檚 important that we take that step back and realize that this is not just us, this is everyone and we have to be here for everyone.鈥�
While raising awareness on the preventable consequences of unvaccinated patients overwhelming Alberta鈥檚 health care system, Mathieu is also putting out a fundraising call for the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital, in recognition of the care and support her family has received from its medical staff.
鈥淭hey are heroes in my eyes and I have all the respect in the world for these people who are taking care of our baby and I just want to say thank you to them,鈥� she said.
trevor.crawley@cranbrooktownsman.com
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