Pandemic effects on health care the worst yet, say N.B. doctors and nurses

New Brunswick doctors and nurses say the situation in the health-care system is the worst it's been since the start of the pandemic.

As of late last week, there were 232 COVID patients in hospital and about 650 health-care workers off work because of COVID infections or exposures.

"Everybody's trying to keep their head above water right now," said New Brunswick Nurses Union president Paula Doucet.

Nurses are sometimes working 24-hour shifts to keep units open, said Doucet. There are units with just two nurses to look after 30 patients, and some emergency departments that are supposed to have 15 nurses on a shift are trying to stay open with just six, she said

She is calling for an emergency meeting of all stakeholders in the health system to figure out ways to mitigate "the exodus of health care workers" and to keep services afloat.

Doucet and New Brunswick Medical Society president Dr. Mark MacMillan agreed the main thing needed is an investment in human resources.

"Creative solutions do require manpower," MacMillan said.

Doctors are even pitching in, he said, by doing things such as transporting patients.

But it's hard to offload ambulance patients when you only have a small number of doctors and nurses running an ER department or when beds are blocked on the floors, said MacMillan.

"It's becoming challenging to function on a day-to-day basis," he said.

MacMillan was careful not to sound alarmist, however.

Despite their concerns, he and Doucet both said they have confidence in the system and the ability of health professionals to deliver care to those in need of it.

Premier Blaine Higgs has suggested the staff shortages are tied to isolation policies that may be overly strict.

Horizon Health confirmed Friday its employees must isolate for five days if they have a close contact in the community who tests positive for COVID and for 10 days if they have a close contact with COVID in their own home.

MacMillan defended that policy.

"We haven't put COVID behind us," he said.

If health-care workers bring a COVID infection to work, he said, it could lead to an even worse situation with more infections.

Within the health-care system, every precaution is still being taken to keep patients and staff as safe as possible, he and Doucet said.

That also means procedures take more time.

Getting an X-ray, for example, may normally take 15 minutes, he said, but with COVID safety procedures it takes about 45 minutes.

It "adds backlog to the system," said MacMillan, "but it's important to get that job done." 

Outside of hospitals, the lifting of mandates and restrictions has made things for health-care workers "really, really hard," Doucet said.

"It just seems that in the last month or so that protection of health care has really gone out the window," she said.

"We still need to be working together to get ourselves out of it because this is only going to get worse if people throw caution to the wind and don't care anymore. We need to start caring again."

John Gunn of Riverview said he thinks many people have fallen into a false sense of security that COVID is "just a cold" and "everyone is going to be fine."

Gunn said he decided to speak out because he wanted to make people aware that the effect of COVID on the health system is more widespread than just the people who are sick with the virus.

Gunn said his seven-year-old has been waiting for surgery since September to correct a muscle issue with his eye.

It's been cancelled and rescheduled five times now, he said, because of pandemic-related issues.

About 50 Vitalité Health Network surgeries have been postponed our cancelled since the beginning of April for COVID-related reasons, said spokesperson Thomas Lizotte.

At the Horizon Health Network, 1,464 surgeries have been postponed between January and March, said spokesperson Kris McDavid, but he could not immediately say how many of those were COVID-related.

Gunn said from what he understands, the child is at the optimal stage, developmentally, for the surgery to take place, and as he gets older there can be more complications and more risk that the surgery doesn't provide permanent results.

"It's been a lot hanging over all of our heads," he said.

The family is doing everything they can to avoid COVID, said Gunn. They aren't socializing, they're wearing high-quality respirators and they're working with school staff to limit exposure.

His son has to be COVID-free for four weeks prior to the operation, and the next scheduled date for the surgery is five weeks away.

Gunn said he hopes his family can avoid COVID until then and that things will have returned to normal at the hospital.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell has said she expects cases and hospitalizations to decline by mid-April, but she warned a sixth wave will likely follow.

MacMillan said he expects COVID will continue to have a significant impact on health care for some time.

"This is not the health-care system of three years ago," he said. "It is worse than it was. And it is going to take a very, very long time to get things turned around."

80 internationally educated nurses offered jobs through pilot

On Monday, the province announced a pilot project launched in the fall of 2020 to recruit internationally educated nurses has matched 80 nurses with New Brunswick employers, with 55 hired by Horizon, 12 hired by Vitalité and 13 with job offers from nursing homes.

The pilot project is designed to support internationally educated nurses as they apply for immigration and ensure they meet registration requirements to live and work in New Brunswick.

It "has shown incredible potential," said Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Trevor Holder.

"Prior to having a navigation program, the number of internationally trained nurses introduced to the New Brunswick health-care system was minimal. In fact, it was less than five per year," he said.

Now, in addition to the 80 recruited, another 150 internationally educated nurses are immigrating to New Brunswick and are in the process of being connected with health employers, Holder said.

"We anticipate that our supply of internationally trained nurses will increase to 280 per year beginning in 2023-2024."

A few internationally trained nurses attended the news conference — Nivea Chirayath-Wilson, of India, is a registered nurse with Horizon; Marwa Elnady, of Egypt, is currently working as a personal service worker while bridging to become a registered nurse with Horizon; and Deborah Ferreria, of Brazil, is a candidate in the pilot program and currently works at Loch Lomond Villa nursing home in Saint John.

Health Minister Dorothy Shephard addressed them directly at the news conference. "I'm sure you're reading the news and may have some trepidation … But I want to assure you that our government is committed to addressing our nursing shortage," she said.

The process for an internationally educated nurse to become licensed to work as a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse in New Brunswick can take between 12 and 18 months. Before becoming licensed, they can work in support positions for regional health authorities or nursing homes, in roles such as personal support workers.

The pilot is a partnership involving the provincial departments of Health and Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour and the federal department of Employment and Social Development Canada.