CHEO opens a second Intensive Care Unit. You can help keep kids out of it.

On the heels of adding beds to the existing Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), CHEO has opened a second PICU to address the overflow of critically ill babies and young children. Over the past few weeks, CHEO has seen an early arrival of the peak viral season driven by acute viral respiratory infections including RSV, flu, COVID and other viruses. These are at levels never before seen in CHEO’s 48-year history.

“Unprecedented feels like an overused word at the moment, but there’s no better term to describe the crisis facing our pediatric health-care system right now,” says Dr. Lindy Samson, CHEO’s Chief of Staff and Chief Medical Officer. “We appreciate the additional funding from the Ministry of Health and Ontario Health which is making it possible for us to respond.”

CHEO is currently experiencing more than double its normal volume of younger patients, and they are arriving sicker. More kids are requiring admission, and this has many young patients and their families stuck in the Emergency Department for longer than ever before. To address this crisis, CHEO has been taking a series of measures to ensure young people in our community can still get the emergency, critical and acute care they need, including:

• Opening a second PICU in space which has been temporarily reassigned from CHEO’s Surgical Day Unit. This new PICU makes five more beds available for children and youth with intensive care needs.
• Redeploying clinicians with critical care skills from other parts of CHEO to help in the PICU. 
• Focused on patient-facing needs, CHEO is reassigning staff to support emergency, acute and critical care needs.
• Hiring more staff as quickly as possible to provide care to patients.
• Scheduling staff from across the organization who have put up their hand to provide non-clinical support to frontline care teams.
• Expanding staffing and clinic hours at the Kids Come First and East Ottawa Kids care clinics.
• Embedding specialized discharge planners in clinical teams to ensure young patients safely get home sooner.  
• Only when it is safe, postponing some surgeries, procedures and clinic appointments to free up staff with the skills needed to care for the very sick children and youth needing urgent care at CHEO.
• Adopting enhanced peak viral season measures for the safety of families and staff, which includes having only one parent or designated caregiver at the bedside. 

"At this time, we need Ottawa to come together as a community and help reduce the spread of these viral illnesses in our community, so CHEO can get back to providing care for all children and youth who need it, in a timely manner. So please wear a mask in crowded indoor spaces including schools,” adds Dr. Samson.

Here are ways the people of Ottawa can help:
• Wear a mask in crowded indoor spaces, including schools
• Stay home when sick
• Wash your hands, frequently
• Cough into elbows
• Get all vaccines you are eligible for, including COVID-19 and flu

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