Alberta has bought 106 ventilator units to be used at hospitals and clinics around the province as it prepares for a resurgence of the H1N1 virus this fall.
The first wave of the virus this past spring exposed a shortfall in national pandemic planning. A lack of ventilators to assist flu-stricken lungs prompted the federal and provincial governments to look into increasing their supplies.
Alberta will start receiving its ventilators in two weeks. It has about 400 ventilators already in place across the province, its health department said yesterday.
Health officials have noted that the H1N1 virus differs from seasonal influenza in three key ways: its victims have been younger, they have been sicker, and they've needed more time on ventilators.
There has been no official tally of the machines in Canada. The federal public health agency told The Globe and Mail this summer there was no point in counting those not attached to critical-care beds because a ventilator needs trained personnel to operate it.
