The Yukon Hospital Corp. reported today that Whitehorse General Hospital and its intensive care unit remain at the red status for available inpatient beds.

Red means space is extremely limited/hospital full. Yellow means space is limited in some service areas. Green means space is available.

James Low, the corporation’s director, people services and culture, responded by email this morning to the Star’s inquiries.

“Hospital occupancy ebbs and flows daily (often on an hourly basis),” stated Low. “Currently, WGH is in ‘red’ status.

“We share the information on our website to give Yukoners a general sense of how busy we are in the hospitals. We encourage everyone to not ... delay coming to hospital if they require urgent attention.”

Low went on to explain what the red status means.

“Red status ... means we are experiencing very limited or no bed availability in key areas – at the moment we have limited or no bed availability in our inpatient units (for admitted patients).

“Our maternity unit, ICU, secure medical unit and community hospitals do have some bed availability.

“There is no single reason why we are experiencing high occupancy – we are simply going through a period of higher than expected volumes,” he added.

Low also explained what this status means to people seeking health care at the hospital.

“In periods of limited occupancy:

• We work to ensure any patient who no longer requires hospital care, can be safely transitioned to another level of care such as a continuing care facility, or have all the supports in place to safely return home. This requires us to work closely with our health system partners.

• Some people waiting to be admitted may have to stay longer in the Emergency Department in order to be cared for safely.

• We may also look at using all hospital beds in the system, including those at Watson Lake and Dawson City Community Hospitals.

This means only when safe and appropriate, we may transfer a patient temporarily to one of the community hospitals.”