‘This is unprecedented:’ CHEO getting set to take on ICU overflow from Ottawa hospitals

CHEO is preparing intensive care beds and staffing for the potential transfer of younger adults in need of critical care.

Ottawa’s adult hospitals are already admitting record numbers of COVID-19 patients, and admissions continue to climb. CHEO says in a statement Tuesday, April 13, if patients need to be transferred out of those hospitals, it is preferable for them to be able to stay in Ottawa and not have to be transferred elsewhere in the province or country.

“This is unprecedented in CHEO's 47-year history and reflects how serious the third wave of the pandemic is,” says Alex Munter, CEO and President of CHEO. “We need to do everything we can to stop the uncontrolled spread that is making so many people ill.”

From the beginning of the pandemic CHEO has been responding in close partnership with the other hospitals in the Ottawa area. 

CHEO says it's has been running at or near full capacity through the winter and into early spring. Its intensive care unit (ICU) team has been developing a plan to go beyond its existing surge capacity and safely add ICU beds, to allow CHEO to accept younger adults (approximately 40 years old and under). 

The pediatric health and research centre is planning to add five more ICU beds, bringing its capacity to 12. It says it's also conscious of minimizing the impact of this critical care on its ability to provide pediatric services. 

“Children and youth will continue to be our priority for admissions,” says CHEO.

CHEO’s Emergency Department remains limited to patients under 18. 

Anyone 18 and older who requires emergency care is asked to go to their nearest general hospital emergency department. Adult patients to be cared for by CHEO will be transferred directly from those hospitals. Such transfers will only occur once adult hospitals in the Ottawa region exhaust available capacity after activating their surge plans.