Calgary doctor issues request for medical supplies for pregnant women with COVID-19

The Alberta government is urging pregnant women and those who are trying to become pregnant to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible.

A Calgary doctor's plea on social media to solicit medical equipment has highlighted the state of Alberta's health-care system amid the most severe wave of COVID-19 to date.

Dr. Stephanie Cooper, an obstetrician at Foothills Medical Centre, wrote on Twitter Friday night to ask for oxygen monitors for pregnant, COVID-positive mothers.

"I need 50 home oxygen monitors for symptomatic covid+ pregnant women presenting to the ER. Open to all ideas for access, donations etc. Way out of my league here- as we all are," she wrote.

What followed was an outpouring of offers, from people buying oxygen monitors on Amazon to a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for medical supplies.

When Dr. Jason Weatherald, respirologist and assistant professor at the University of Calgary, saw Cooper's Tweet, he said he had a physical, visceral reaction.

"I was horrified. I've got two young kids, my wife was just pregnant a year ago. It's horrific," he said.

"To have to crowdfund supplies on Twitter, due to the magnitude of the problem that she's seeing, is really a poignant symbol of how bad things are right now."

Oxygen monitors, or pulse oximeters, are electronic devices that measure heart rate and oxygen saturation in the blood. They are essential for pregnant mothers who test positive for COVID, he explained.

"A lot of times people come into the ER and they're not sick enough to get admitted to hospital. In previous waves of the pandemic, we've been telling people to go buy them. Sometimes the hospital has five or six of them but they'll give them to patients to take home."

Oxygen monitors can cost anywhere between $20 to $120, he said.

Normal oxygen saturation is above 92 per cent for an average person. Once levels drop to below 90 per cent, it's a sign the person should be in hospital on oxygen, he said. For pregnant women, levels should not drop below 94 per cent .

"Then the fetus is being starved of oxygen, so it's really important to monitor that. Pregnant women are at higher risk, especially it seems with Delta, of having worse outcomes. These women really need to watch it closely and come in because they're at higher risk."

The fourth wave of COVID-19 is sending more unvaccinated pregnant women to Alberta's ICUs than was seen during previous waves of the pandemic.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, said last week that six pregnant Albertans needed treatment in ICU due to COVID-19 infection in the month of August, compared to seven women who went to ICU with the virus in the first year of the pandemic. All were unvaccinated.

She explained pregnant women are at high risk of severe illness from the novel coronavirus, which can also affect their unborn children.

"There's a lot of misinformation out there about vaccine safety in pregnancy, and so I think a lot of women are that are unvaccinated are just afraid, because they don't know if it's safe or not," Weatherald said.

"We need to help get that information out there, that the vaccine is safe in pregnancy, and that so far there's no evidence that it is harmful to babies."

While he said he was horrified by Cooper's request, he "wasn't shocked by it."

"Effectively, our health-care system is collapsing. Every surgery and procedure is cancelled except for life-threatening emergencies. Whatever is being done this week, we won't see the effect of it for 10 to 14 days. So it's only going to get worse," he said.

When asked what message he wanted the province to take from the fact that a Calgary doctor had to resort to crowdsourcing medical equipment, he said the province failed in their pandemic response.

"I think (the province) blew it. They blew it. They basically had to do everything they said they weren't going to do, and they didn't listen to us. Now we're in this situation," he said.

"I think people are dying, and even the ones that don't die are suffering tremendously with long-term impacts and it was all completely avoidable. I hope they all think about that every single day."

When he returned from dropping off the monitors, he saw a piece of paper attached on his car — what he thought at first was a parking ticket. When he turned it over, he said he started to cry.

The message, signed anonymously by a student from William Aberhart High School, read 'Thank you for all your hard work. You are so strong and we appreciate all the work you have done during COVID.'

Lower-income moms at higher risk

Sarah Biggs, a registered nurse who moved to Alberta from Quebec, started a GoFundMe page online to raise funds for Cooper to buy whatever medical supplies she needed, she said.

After all, Cooper was the one who delivered her 11-month-old daughter Madeline into the world.

"At the end of the day, the government has let us down so much that we need to rely on each other to keep each other safe. We're not talking about one human, or 50 humans. We're talking about 100 humans here, because those ladies are pregnant," Biggs said, with Madeline cooing in the background.

Biggs said she worries that the pandemic is putting low-income mothers at higher risk. When she was pregnant last year, she could keep her other nine-year-old at home so her unborn child wasn't put at greater risk if she were to test positive.

"So what if they can't afford it? What if pregnant mom has to go to work? And, very often, a low-paying job? Kids are at school, there's no contact tracing… if there's a COVID positive case, the kid brings it home, mommy gets sick. It's such a bigger issue."

All proceeds raised will go to Cooper to purchase more oxygen monitors or any other equipment if needed, she said. As of 8 p.m. Saturday, the GoFundMe page has raised $340 of its $5,000 goal.

Saturday evening, Cooper wrote on Twitter donors had surpassed the number of monitors she had asked for.

"This makes a huge difference for the morale of our health care teams. Thank you! And- based on your generosity- we have surpassed our request for monitors so that distribution can go beyond Calgary and to other hard hit AB areas," she wrote.

- Postmedia