‘Things have settled down:’ COVID burden eases on Regina hospitals

It wasn’t long ago that Regina’s intensive care units were overloaded with COVID-19 patients.

In April, doctors and nurses were busy dealing with up to 35 ICU patients with the virus.

As of Sunday’s update, there were only five COVID patients in Regina ICUs.

It’s a welcome change for Dr. Jeffrey Betcher, the area department lead for critical care in Regina.

“Things have settled down quite a lot. Quite significantly, actually,” he said. “We do still have a few COVID patients in the ICU, although a lot less than what we used to have.

“It’s given us a bit of a reprieve. Hopefully it’s a permanent reprieve and not just temporary. I think everyone feels a little relieved and sort of relaxed, now that the case numbers are down.”

It’s a far cry from how he and the staff felt back in April.

“It has tested our mettle, so to speak,” Betcher said. “It has certainly been stressful and it has pushed us as far as we can go.”

While the coronavirus has loosened its grip on the Queen City’s hospitals, they do still have issues to deal with moving forward.

For one, many people are getting care they wouldn’t have at the height of the pandemic.

“We are busier than normal because a lot of patients that are coming in now (are people) that were waiting … (It’s) patients that don’t have COVID that would otherwise have come and been with us that are coming now,” he said.

“Of course, there’s the backlog of all the surgical cases that had been deferred until we had more of the ability to (deal with) that.”

He also worries of the possibility of COVID cases once again worsening in the fall.

Regardless, he has faith in the province’s health-care workers to do what needs to be done.

“(We’re) always at the ready to step up if we need to,” Betcher said.