When he appeared in Mont-Laurier in August 2018 to announce a $ 22 million project to redevelop and expand the hospital, former Minister of Health and Social Services Gaétan Barrette said he was convinced he was responding to the needs expressed by the region. .
All of these new facilities at Hôpital de Mont-Laurier, both users and staff, will benefit, as they will also improve the work efficiency of the health professionals who work there.he said.
The task was to make it possible in particular to remove many bedrooms and to provide all bedrooms with bathrooms accessible to people with poor mobility. to ensure greater comfort and privacy and to avoid the risk of infection.
A design with no rumor in the 21st century, with delivery scheduled for 2023.
However, according to documents consulted by Radio-Canada, the work remains in planningwill not begin before the fall of 2023 and will end in four years, in 2026.
We have a feeling of being completely abandoned […] to see as numberslaunched Daniel Bourdon, mayor of Mont-Laurier and prefect of MRC Antoine-Labelle.
We defended our file, because if we wait for the CEO of CISSS des Laurentides, we will meet again in ten years and we will be on the same level today.he moaned.
Mr. Bourdon has been involved in schools and municipal politics in the region for 40 years.
According to him, the Barrette reform of the health network in 2015 left a mark.
For example, we invested $ 300,000 a year in a mechanism to early recruit students from the region for the health network, but that was lost in the mergers.regret the prefect of the region.
MRC Antoine-Labelle occupies two-thirds of the territory of the Laurentians. Its population of approximately 36,000 inhabitants remains stable, but is among the oldest in Quebec. Not to mention poverty, which affects 20% of citizens.
Patients in the hallway
During our visit, Mont-Laurier Hospital’s small emergency department was receiving 12 patients on stretchers that day. Its capacity is more than double.
Some were in the hallway between the parting curtains.
They can’t climb [dans des chambres] because I don’t have a nurse to take care of meexplained the head physician of the general surgery department of Mont-Laurier Hospital, Dr. Kim Ouellet.
From the observation post in the emergency room, a nurse and a doctor also monitor two patients in intensive care and one in psychiatry.
This is not normal, because a patient comes here [aux soins intensifs] after a heart attack, the first thing he needs is rest for two, three days, but with lights and 24/7 activity, you can’t rest..
Basically, with the security guard, it’s the psychiatric observation stretcher because we don’t have a psychiatrist here and it’s while waiting to transfer or until the person sobers up from his consumption.continued Dr. Ouellet.
The other outpatients have been waiting in the two trailers that have been set up since the pandemic began.
Empty rooms, unused equipment
Contrast during our visit to the floors.
Individual rooms with bathrooms are not used, due to lack of staff.
A room with a bath for hydrotherapy became a storage room.
An obstetrics room was turned into a rest room.
Not to mention the expensive special equipment covered with protective plastic.
This is Antoine Labelle’s ophthalmology equipment that hasn’t been handy since the summer of 2020, as ophthalmologists leaveexplained Roxane Beaulieu-Doré, internist at Mont-Laurier and Rivière Rouge Hospital, as well as the local head of the internal medicine department.
The latter wants to have a magnetic resonance device.
It will be beneficial for the region to have this device which, in our opinion, is a standard of practice for many common pathologies in 2022supporting the internist.
Since starting his practice five years ago, Dr. Beaulieu-Doré to work in the regions, but he found he remained the exception.
I see young people in practice, and they tell me: “I’m not coming back here when my course is over.” […] They don’t see the attractions, someone needs to introduce themhe offered.
four hour drive
We have also identified many patients who are tired of commuting between Sainte-Agathe, Saint-Jérôme or even Montreal to get care.
Carmen Beaudry said her brother-in-law visited Saint-Jérôme 80 times for his eyes. My daughter also had to go there every month, they gave up, she was blinded…regrets this elder from Sainte-Anne-du-Lac.
He himself had to go to Saint-Jérôme for knee surgery. We don’t have the services we need in Mont-Laurierhe says.
Lida Beaudry Touchette and her husband, also from Sainte-Anne-du-Lac, said they spent several thousand dollars on transportation and accommodation over four months for eye treatment in Sainte-Agathe.
We feel we have been neglected, we want it back to Mont-Lauriergreetings to this retired teacher.
The CEO wants to act
Recognized in her offices, the President and CEO of CISSS des Laurentides, Rosemonde Landry, does not underestimate the challenges facing Mont-Laurier Hospital, particularly in terms of staff.
In ophthalmology, in principle, it should be reopened in the fall using the device, Ms. assured. Landry. In September, ophthalmologists from Sainte-Agathe will go to Mont-Laurier.
For nurses, recruitment abroad should bear fruit next year.
We have a recruitment project in French-speaking African countries with approximately forty French-speaking nurses due to arrive by January 2023, including 20 planned for Mont-Laurier and Rivière-Rouge, he explained. An additional one year training in CEGEP is required.
The CEO also relies on on-site nursing training. The cégep did this every single year. That’s where they start doing it every year.
Paid summer jobs, including accommodation, in various health sectors may be allowed in the medium term. that the people adopted the region.
In psychiatry, the CEO knows five specialists are needed, but expects a professional to return shortly.
In collaboration with Marie-Michelle Lauzon
Source: Radio-Canada
