There have been three Code Oranges called at P.E.I. hospitals in just over three months, compared to the same number in all of 2023.
With the province’s population continuing to rise and health resources at Island hospitals stretched thin, some health officials say it’s an occurrence that might happen even more frequently in the years ahead.
A Code Orange is called when multiple potential patients could need emergency care from an accident or other kind of mass-casualty incident, meaning more resources might need to be called in.
“We traditionally think of them as more traumatic events where you could have a car crash or a fire, as have been the recent cases,” said Dr. Ken Farion, Health P.E.I.’s medical director of hospital services and patient flow.
“You could also envision some sort of poisoning or environmental disaster that could lead to a large number of patients coming — or even an infectious disease outbreak [where] suddenly a large number of patients, say at a nursing home, were suddenly ill. That could prompt the response.”
Whether a hospital declares a Code Orange depends on how busy the emergency room is and how many staff are on hand at the time, so the criteria will be different for each hospital across the Island.
Two of the three Code Oranges this year, at Summerside’s Prince County Hospital, involved fewer than five potential incoming patients.
