At its peak, just weeks ago, Manitoba had transported more than 40 critically ill COVID-19 patients to Intensive Care Units in other provinces.

Kelsey Penner is a critical care flight nurse with STARS in Manitoba and was involved in transporting many of those patients.

‘Severe COVID-19 pneumonia is no joke. A couple of weeks ago our ICUs were absolutely on the brink of failure. We were having to transport patients who were very critically, some of which barely survived their trip.’

According to Penner, patients were moved in a very safe manner by various organizations, including STARS and the Canadian Armed Forces.

Kelsey Penner at STARS Radiothon. Photo credit: twitter.com/Colleen_Mayer

And it wasn’t just the elderly or those with pre-existing conditions who were being transferred.

‘I’ve treated so many patients in their 20s and 30s and 40s that are just so critically ill. They have a breathing tube in their throat or using a machine to mechanically ventilate them.’

The normal oxygen saturation in your blood is between 95 and 100 per cent. Penner says they were seeing patients in the 50s and 60s. Medical staff would provide non-invasive breathing assistance until patients would experience respiratory failure. At that point, they need to move forward with the breathing tube.

‘It really takes somebody that's in their 20s and 30s and it really puts them in the body of somebody who's in their 80s or 90s.’

Penners says COVID-19 patients were often so sick that their lungs couldn’t tolerate a normal style of ventilation.

‘They would need to be ventilated in a way that is almost a little bit like panting. So we're ventilating them at a faster rate in very small volumes, it's incredibly uncomfortable. So we have to give pain medication and oftentimes we have to give chemical paralysis as well for them to tolerate that and it's just so sad, and in so many cases, just so preventable’

Penner stressed it’s important for people to understand the type of illness that vaccine is designed to prevent. She says the vaccine can prevent some from getting COVID-19 it can also keep the sickest patients out of ICUs and present with just a mild version of that illness instead.

Penner is understanding of those who are hesitant and feeling like so much of normal life in the pandemic is out of their control that making a choice on a vaccine is the one thing people do have control over.

‘Some people are really feeling this is where I'm taking control. I'm taking my life back and I'm saying no. But truly of all the things that we can do in order to help us get back to normal, in order to keep our individual lives protected in the sense that we won't have critical illness and we won't end up in the ICU. Understand the type of illness you’re trying to avoid and go out there and get that first dose ’