B.C. continues to grapple with rising cases of respiratory illness among children

The B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver had another busy weekend, as cases of flu and respiratory illness among children continue to soar across the country.

Theestimated wait time to see a doctor was reported to be over 10 hours on Friday and over ninehours on Saturday.

Sarah Bell, the hospital's chief operating officer, said the emergency department continues to experience high volumes and high acuity when a high number of patients requireprolonged attention andcare from nursing staff.

On Sunday, the hospital told CBCNewsthat it was not diverting patients and no child needing the highest level of pediatric care wouldbe refused admission.

Bell saidparents should only bring children with a respiratory illness to the emergency room if they're having trouble breathing, adding that children who are younger than three months and have a fever andare dehydrated with diarrhea or vomiting should also go to the ER.

"You probably don't need emergency care if your child has a cough, cold, sore throat, the flu, pink eye or an earache," she said.

WATCH |Children's hospitals across Canada under strain:

Childrens hospitals cancel surgeries, redeploy staff during patient surge

1 year ago

Duration 2:44

Children's hospitals across Canada are diverting staff, cancelling procedures and, in some cases, even calling on the Red Cross for help due to surging cases of respiratory infections.

The hospital said itco-ordinates with the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Victoria General Hospital and regional health authoritiesto balance needed resourcesandmake sure children receive care at the most appropriate location.

'Working harder than we ever have before'

Dr. Susan Kuo, a family doctor in Richmond, B.C., says she and her colleagues are getting phone calls from distressed parents every day they're at the office.

"I have never seen this many sick children with respiratory illness this many sick children, period," she said in an interview. "Every family doctor I know, we're working harder than we ever have before."

Kuo says she's especially worried about how difficult it is for children to get a PCR test for COVID-19.

Two of her youngsick patients who were showing symptoms of the virus but hadtested negative on rapid testing kits at home were told they couldn't get a more reliable, lab-certified testunless they were so ill they needed to be admitted to hospital.

"My diagnosis is based on doing testing and PCR testing is very crucial," said Kuo.

Kuo said she needs to determine if her patients haveCOVID-19, influenza or RSV(respiratory syncytial virus)so she can prescribe the appropriate treatment.

Chris Brandt is a father tofour-year-old twins and says he brought his daughter toB.C. Children's Hospital last week and his son to a hospital in Sechelt on Saturday.

"Luckily both visits just turned out to be ear infections," he said. "In both cases, the staff were absolutely amazing. But there was a four-hour wait last week ... and [Sunday] there was a three-hour wait."

Brandt says it's stressful for parents to head to hospital with their children and not know how long they'll have to wait to get treatment.

"It's tough with young kids, that are too young to understand why we're waiting," he said. "I can't imagine 10 to 12 hours."

Health Ministry, Green Party to address situation

B.C.'s Ministry of Health will give an update Monday morning on protecting children through the influenza season.

Health Minister Adrian Dix, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and executive lead of Immunize B.C. Vaccine Operations Dr. Penny Ballem are set to speak in Vancouver at 11:30 a.m. PT.

The B.C. Green Party says its leader Sonia Furstenau and pediatric surgeonDr. Sanjiv Gandhi will also be addressing media onMonday.

A party spokespersonsent out a media advisory, saying Fursteneau and Gandhi willrespondto the situation in B.C. children'shospitalsand the Minister of Health's announcement on the current respiratory illness season at 1 p.m. PT.