Saskatoon ER worker says ‘people would die’ waiting for care in the event of a disaster [Video]

Healthcare workers rallied outside St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon Wednesday, advocating for better conditions in emergency rooms.

Appearing at the rally, NDP leader Carla Beck said a plane bound for Saskatoon last week with 122 people on board experienced mechanical issues and declared an emergency, while the emergency room at the Royal University Hospital (RUH) buckled at 350 per cent capacity.

Beck said for years, health care workers have warned the provincial government that the strain on emergency rooms means there’s no capacity for people should a mass casualty event happen.

Stephanie Fehr, a nurse at St. Paul’s Hospital, said the emergency room sits at 200 per cent capacity everyday.

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“If there was a mass casualty event called, we would call a code orange in the hospital and people would die. We just don’t have capacity. We don’t have …