Sydney doctor calls for higher public flu vaccination rates to ease ER waits

Emergency room wait times are up at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney, N.S., mostly due to seasonal flu and respiratory illnesses and a resurgence of COVID, according to an emergency department doctor.

"The emergency department is crazy busy," said Dr. Margaret Fraser, a family physician who does shifts at the regional ER. "We're seeing very long wait times for patients — 12, 14, 18 hours — and high volumes of patients with respiratory illness, unfortunately."

Nova Scotia Health says only about 22.5 per cent of its employees have taken the flu vaccine this season.

In an email just before Christmas, the Department of Health and Wellness said overall flu vaccine coverage in the province was 39 per cent, with the highest uptake in the 65-and-over category, where vaccine uptake was 56-69 per cent, depending on age group.

Overall COVID-19 vaccine coverage was 20 per cent, with the highest uptake in the 65-and-over age category, where uptake ranged from 42-51 per cent, depending on age group.

Fraser said more people need to get vaccinated to help reduce patient numbers in the emergency department.

"We have seen good uptake for the flu shot among older adults, but younger people don't seem to be getting it in the numbers that they should be and certainly, influenza is a somewhat vaccine preventable illness," she said.

Fraser said she was surprised to hear the number of health-care workers getting the flu shot was so low.

She said she and her colleagues are not resistant to the vaccine.

"I don't know what it's like up on [other hospital] floors or in other facets of health care, but in my experience, the emergency department, we see enough flu that we don't want it."

Earlier this week in the eastern zone, hospital emergency departments at Buchanan Memorial Hospital in Neils Harbour and Guysborough Memorial Hospital were temporarily closed.

The ER at the Strait Richmond hospital in Evanston closed on Friday and will remain closed through the weekend.

It is scheduled to reopen Monday at 8 a.m., but is set to close again Wednesday at 7 a.m. and reopen Thursday at 8 a.m.

'If ill, go to the hospital:' Fraser

In an email, Nova Scotia Health spokesperson Jennifer Lewandowski said long wait times and temporary ER closures are not necessarily due to low flu vaccine uptake by health-care workers.

The uptake rate includes all Nova Scotia Health employees, not just those in patient care roles, and not all employees report their vaccination status, Lewandowski said.

Regardless of the long wait times, Fraser said people who feel ill should go to the hospital.

In some cases, conditions can worsen at home and may not be reversible later, she said, and last year around this time, a Cape Breton woman died after leaving the ER too soon.

"Do not be put off by the wait," Fraser said. "Do not assume that you are going to wait for 14 hours.

"If you are genuinely unwell and feel that you need immediate medical assistance, please come to the emergency department. We don't want anybody else dying at home because they didn't come and once you come, please stay until you're seen."

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