Yellowknifer Savannah Lantz was supposed to undergo neurosurgery on a temporal lobe brain tumour in Edmonton on Sept. 24.
The cancellation of that procedure due to the Covid-19 strain on AlbertaSA国际影视传媒檚 health-care system has left her and her mother Tanya devastated.
SA国际影视传媒淵ou know that feeling you get when youSA国际影视传媒檙e in a movie theatre, watching some new horror film and the music keeps getting a little louder,SA国际影视传媒� said Savannah. SA国际影视传媒淵our palms start to sweat and your heartbeat picks up because you know something horrible is coming? Sitting there in that moment with fear in your stomach, legs tense? ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 what waiting for brain surgery is like, except you get to walk out of the theatre, and ISA国际影视传媒檓 still living in this body.SA国际影视传媒�
Territorial medical director Dr. AnneMarie Pegg offered some insight into the current predicament on Oct. 6.
SA国际影视传媒淭here are certainly a number of people who have had important surgeries cancelled, postponed, deferred, and thatSA国际影视传媒檚 really stressful and really distressing,SA国际影视传媒� she said, but no number of affected individuals was provided. SA国际影视传媒淲eSA国际影视传媒檙e working with our partners in Alberta to look at what the options for those people are.SA国际影视传媒�
Alberta had 18,411 active Covid-19 cases as of Oct. 6. The virus has killed 2,814 people in the province.
Yet transferring NWT patients to jurisdictions other than Alberta would require a SA国际影视传媒渧ery dire situation,SA国际影视传媒� Pegg said.
Tanya Lantz recalled receiving a call from the neurosurgeonSA国际影视传媒檚 office to inform them of SavannahSA国际影视传媒檚 surgery being cancelled just hours before they were scheduled to leave on their flight to Edmonton.
SA国际影视传媒淲e had been watching the news and praying hard that things would get better in Edmonton so that she could receive the surgery, but that did not happen,SA国际影视传媒� said Tanya. SA国际影视传媒淲e asked when the rescheduled surgery would be. They were unable to offer a date because of the current Covid situation in Alberta.
SA国际影视传媒淲e cried that day, [we] sat together in disbelief and anger.SA国际影视传媒�
Pegg said Alberta has reached the point where the term medical emergency is being applied in a much more SA国际影视传媒渘arrowSA国际影视传媒� sense.
SA国际影视传媒淪o, the definition of emergency is not necessarily easy to pin down,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淭he unfortunate reality in Alberta, for a period of time, has been that surgeries that are not essential for the preservation of life or limb within the next three days, the vast majority of those have been cancelled. They are looking at how that backlog can be addressed.SA国际影视传媒�
Yellowknifer Emily Lawson needs a medical procedure done on her eye, but she too will have to wait longer due to the Covid-induced health-care logjam south of the NWT border.
SA国际影视传媒淪adly, as ICUs fill up and, at this point, pretty much all surgeries are cancelled,SA国际影视传媒� said Lawson. SA国际影视传媒淚 am carefully and closely monitored. I have an emergency on-call cellphone number if I run into worsening symptoms or need immediate procedure here in AlbertaSA国际影视传媒� sadly, this has become a polarized issue and it is more complex than that as a health-care issue.SA国际影视传媒�
