Quebec’s pediatric hospitals facing historic crisis according to some doctors

A handful of Quebec pediatricians signed an open letter in La Presse calling the situation in the province’s pediatric hospitals a “historic crisis.”

Dr. Bethany Foster is one of them. She says in her 18 years of practice at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, she has never seen a volume of young patients with respiratory viruses this early on in the year.

A peak that she says doesn’t normally occur until January.

“I’ve been working in a children’s hospital since 1994. I’ve never seen anything like this. And colleagues of mine who’ve been here longer, you know, people have said in 25 years, in 30 years, I’ve never seen anything like this,” she explained.

“During that first year, there was almost no RSV circulating among children, which is also a historic event. In the opposite direction. As a result, though, of this of these lockdowns and children not being exposed to other children, there’s no immunity in the community and probably no immunity in mothers who would normally pass antibodies to their babies. So we have a situation where there’s no immunity in the pediatric population and things have opened up,” Dr. Foster added.

Dr. Foster adds that during the pandemic, hospital capacity for children was reduced due to the low number of kids falling sick, instead prioritizing those resources for adults.

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But now, sick children have nowhere to go, which is causing an unprecedented influx of children in hospitals that are already over-capacity.

“All the children are coming to the tertiary centers here at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, Sainte-Justine, the children’s hospital in Quebec City, and in Sherbrooke are seeing the vast majority of these sick children – and the impact throughout the hospital is huge with going everywhere from the emergency department where children first enter our hospital to the intensive care units, everybody’s overwhelmed.”

Dr. Foster is calling on the adult population to take the proper measures. This after Quebec health officials strongly recommended masking for everyone in public spaces – except schools and daycares – and getting the flu shot.

The province says there’s a triple threat of viruses – COVID-19, Influenza and RSV spreading right now.

“Children have sacrificed probably more than anyone else during the COVID pandemic,” said Foster. “Their schools were closed. They lost the opportunity to socialize. They lost a lot in their very short lives. So three years in the life of a, you know, six-year-old is half their life.”

With some pediatric hospital wait times now exceeding those of the adult population, Dr. Foster says pediatricians could use an extra hand.

“Everybody is doubling down and it’s quite impressive to see what they can accomplish. They’re going to need some help. And so, you know, if there are any physicians out there who want to help us out, family physicians, pediatricians and community practice, please get in touch and let us know because we’re looking for some extra help.”