CISSSO

Ottawa measles outbreak may have spread to Gatineau

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By Trevor Greenway

The region’s health authority is warning residents to be vigilant about measles, as an outbreak that started in Ottawa may have spread to Gatineau two weekends ago. 

Although transmission of the virus is low in outdoor settings, CISSS de l’Outaouais (CISSSO), is warning residents who were at the Éco des champs farm, located at 482 Earley Rd. in Gatineau on the morning of April 20, to monitor for symptoms and to ensure they are protected from the virus.

“Since the start of the measles outbreak in Quebec and Ontario, no cases of measles have been confirmed in the Outaouais region,” wrote CISSSO in a recent press release. “We remind the public that, although the outbreak is over in Quebec, measles cases can occur, and it is important to ensure that you are protected.”

CISSSO said that the majority of people who were at the Gatineau eco farm have already been contacted, however for those who have not, the health agency is recommending they confirm vaccination records for their children and themselves. 

You are considered protected against measles if:

  • you have received two doses of the measles vaccine (first dose after one year of age and second dose at 18 months, or with four weeks between doses);
  • you were born before 1970.

If you are not protected against measles or are unsure:

  • make an appointment via clicsante.ca or by calling 819-776-2920 to verify your vaccination status or to receive the vaccine free of charge.

Whether you are vaccinated or not, watch for symptoms of measles until May 11: 

  • fever of at least 101 F (38.3 C) and a cough/runny nose or conjunctivitis (red, light-sensitive eyes) and a red rash that starts on the face and spreads to the entire body.

 If you develop the symptoms described above: 

  • stay home;
  • avoid contact with babies under 12 months of age, pregnant women and people with immune system disorders.

Last week, Ottawa Public Health reported that an adult and a child from Ottawa are believed to have contracted measles while travelling abroad. Their diagnosis is the first confirmed measles case in Ottawa, as an outbreak spreads across Ontario, with more than 1,200 people affected. For more information about measles or to consult a nurse, dial 811.

Ottawa measles outbreak may have spread to Gatineau Read More »

Job losses ‘unavoidable’ in round two of health cuts

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By Trevor Greenway

After slashing 800 health positions across the Outaouais, the head of CISSSO says that he still needs to cut an additional $30 million from its budget, money that will “certainly” result in more job losses. 

The CISSSO was mandated by the province’s new health department, Santé Québec, to slash $90 million from its budget in an overall effort to cut $1.5 billion from the province’s health sector by April 1. Last week, CISSSO announced it was cutting 800 health jobs as part of the cuts. However, CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau told the Low Down on March 20 that those cuts only represented two-thirds – $60 million of budget cuts – with an additional $30 million coming down the pike. 

“I think it’s unavoidable,” said Bilodeau when asked if the next round of cuts will result in job losses.  “Because 70 per cent of my expenditures are related to human resources, so expecting to cut without impacting positions is almost impossible.”  

While many of the 800 positions cut last week were vacant, with 104 personnel losing their jobs, Bilodeau says the next round of budget cuts will be especially difficult. He said the first round of cuts was focused on the “easy stuff,” like abolishing vacant positions. He admitted that there would be an impact on residents. He added that not all of the impacts of the cuts would be bad. 

“There would be some impact, but impact doesn’t mean, necessarily, negative impact,” said Bilodeau. “So it could have an impact on how the care is delivered but not necessarily on the amount of care being delivered.”

Dr. Bilodeau used the example of adapting patients with “very common mental health problems” into group therapy settings rather than one-on-one sessions: “I can have 10 patients in the same room with one healthcare provider, and I can do, basically, 10 times more than what I would do with a one-on-one intervention.” He added that managing hours, morale and work-life balance for front-line staffers will be key to moving forward successfully. 

Bilodeau said about two-thirds of the 104 health jobs cut in the region are front-line staff positions, but he added that many have been offered other positions “in more critical areas of our healthcare system.” 

SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon told the Low Down that, while the 800 job losses aren’t as dire as recent headlines suggest, the fact that over 600 vacant positions won’t be renewed kills any chance of recruiting more doctors, nurses or medical technicians to an already underfunded health region. According to the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais, it has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec. 

“We need to point our fingers at the government here,” said Pigeon. “They are the ones who are making these decisions. And clearly this is not Mr. Bilodeau’s fault. It’s just going to create an overwhelming burden again in the workplace environment. Can we really let go of people that we need in a network that is underfunded and understaffed? No, it’s just chaotic.”

Three full-time positions abolished in Des Collines

According to health watchdog group Vigi Santé, the cuts will be felt locally, as three full-time positions in the Des Collines are being abolished: one at the CHSLD in Masham and two admin positions related to proximity services. 

“Two of them are actual job losses; the third one is a reassignment,” said Vigi Santé spokesperson Marcel Chartrand. 

Chartrand also noted that a 0.5 nursing position is being moved from the Masham CLSC to Cantley. Chartrand added that the cuts are also suspending key projects in the region, including a new seniors’ home in Masham and a multi-purpose, permanent vaccination centre in the Des Collines region.  “We are told time and again that services are not and will not be affected,” said Chartrand. “Hard to believe, as with fewer resources, there will be delays in providing services, and waiting times will be extended.”

No decision on CLSC in Low, yet

Dr. Bilodeau told the Low Down that, while there isn’t yet an official decision to cut services at the CLSC in Low to one day a week, he did say that “measures are on the table.”

“Obviously, some of those places like Low could be affected,” said Bilodeau. “I’m not saying they will be because it’s still being analyzed now, and we haven’t made a decision as to where it’s going to be with the last $30 million that we need to cut.” Gatineau MNA Robert Bussière did not return the Low Down’s calls for comments.

Job losses ‘unavoidable’ in round two of health cuts Read More »

‘We’ve been abandoned’

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By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

Hills healthcare advocates say the provincial government has made the Outaouais health crisis worse by cutting a staggering 800 healthcare jobs from the region.  

The cuts were announced March 14 as part of the province’s austerity measures, which will see $1.5 billion slashed from Quebec’s healthcare network – $90 million of that coming out of the CISSS de l’Outaouais’s (CISSSO) budget. 

While a majority of the positions cut are currently vacant, SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon said the impact will be felt tenfold across the region. 

“There’s basically no amelioration for the healthcare network,” Pigeon told the Low Down. “It’s basically longer waiting times, fewer access and limited access to the healthcare system, and if you look at just recent numbers, most of our emergency wards are at 250 per cent of their capacity,” he added, referring to emergency departments at the Gatineau and Hull hospitals. 

Pigeon said his organization is concerned that two-thirds of the $90 million cut from the Outaouais will come in the form of job losses. While many of them were already vacant (about 100 actual jobs are being cut, according to CISSSO), he said he feels that not filling vacant positions in departments like medical scans and imagery, which are already operating at just 40 per cent capacity, will have a domino effect on healthcare in the Outaouais, where there are currently 78,000 residents in the Outaouais without a family doctor and nearly 7,500 in the des Collines region. 

“We’re in the biggest crisis that we’ve ever had for healthcare, and nobody seems to care about our region. We’ve been abandoned,” said Pigeon. He added that the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec. “I just think it’s going to get worse and worse because we should be fully in the mode of recruiting and keeping our staff. Now we’re telling staff to move away.”

Patient waited 230 hours

Pigeon referred to a patient in the Gatineau Hospital, who, during the March 1 weekend, spent “more than 230 hours in the emergency room,” while being treated for a mental health episode, according to CISSSO. The patient spent nearly 10 days on a hospital stretcher before he got a bed. 

“Before he actually got services and someone took him into care, he waited for 230 hours,” said Pigeon. “It’s unbelievable.”

Dr. Peter Bonneville, the president of the Conseil des médecins, dentistes et pharmaciens (CMDP) of the CISSSO and an ER doctor at the Gatineau Hospital told the Low Down he feels that CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau has done a “fantastic job,” given that his first mandate from Santé Québec was to slash $90 million from a health budget that has been bleeding for over a decade. 

What he doesn’t agree with, however, is how CISSSO was forced to cut $90 million out of its budget but the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, which is comparable to the Outaouais, only had to cut close to $40 million. 

“That’s a region that has just a bit less population than us, but has, right now, way better access to healthcare,” said Bonneville. “They have more active operating rooms right now, more specialists for the region.” 

It’s important to note that while the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region is comparable in population to the Outaouais, it’s an isolated northern area where there are not many options for health care. While Outaouais patients can travel to Montreal or Ottawa for emergencies, patients in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region don’t have the same options. 

“I will keep on hammering the fact that we are under budgeted by, apparently, about $180 million a year,” Bonneville continued, “So basically, Santé Québec is putting a gun to the head of CISSSO, and they’re saying, ‘You need to do it.’”

Working conditions not ideal, but necessary

Dr. Bonneville told the Low Down that although he is the most senior member of staff at the Gatineau Hospital, he doesn’t expect seniority perks like weekends off or preferred shifts. As a doctor who has taken the Hippocratic Oath, he said he’s aware of the region’s crisis and will do anything he needs to do to help. 

“I still do weekends. I still do holidays. I worked all of New Year’s week, evening shifts,” Bonneville told the Low Down. He said that during the budgeting exercise, CISSSO realized that it was overstaffing day shifts and more staffers will now be moved out of their “cozy day shift” and into an evening or night shift. While it may not be ideal for some, he said it’s the reality of the current landscape.

“I mean, if I am still doing it, I think everybody needs to contribute,” he said. “And you know, it’s nice to have a cozy job where you’re working day shifts, but that’s not the reality of healthcare.”

CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau did not respond to the Low Down’s request for comment by press time nor did the region’s MNA, Robert  Bussière. 

‘We’ve been abandoned’ Read More »

SOS Outaouais lottery rakes in dough for healthcare

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

SOS Outaouais’ Queen of Hearts lottery, which launched just two months ago, has already raised an impressive $588,090 for healthcare in the region. 

SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon told the Low Down that he was blown away with the campaign’s early success in the past two months. 

“It’s quite amazing what we have going,” said Pigeon, explaining that the draw is similar to the Chase the Ace contest that went viral across the Hills last summer and allowed several organizations to benefit greatly. This included the Low arena, which got $500,000 in cash from the fundraiser. “So, hopefully we can maintain that momentum,” he added. 

The contest works by residents buying raffle tickets. If their name is called, they have a chance to win the full pot if they draw the Queen of Hearts. If not, they win the smaller weekly prize and the pot continues to grow until someone draws the Queen. The progressive pot now exceeds $190,000 as of publication date.

Pigeon said that, after dispersing the winnings, his organization will take home over $300,000 to use on multiple projects over the year. 

“We have close to 200 projects in our nine different sectors,” said Pigeon. “We have a sector of cancer treatment, overall hospital network, youth services, mental health, readaptation, elderly homes, research and supporting the recruitment of human resources for CISSSO.”

SOS Outaouais has a goal of raising $50,000 with the fundraiser in an attempt to address the $200 million shortfall that the region sees in healthcare funding. 

For more information on SOS Outaouais or to buy lottery tickets, visit: https://fondationsanteoutaouais.ca/lotos-loteries/. 

SOS Outaouais lottery rakes in dough for healthcare Read More »

Union confirms imaging techs still plan to leave Pontiac Hospital

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Reporter

The union representing medical imaging technicians in the Outaouais has said five of the six full-time technicians currently serving the Pontiac have been offered higher-paying positions elsewhere and plan to leave their current jobs in the Pontiac by Sept. 9.

These technicians applied for positions in Hull, Gatineau and Papineau hospitals when, this spring, the Quebec government offered $22,000 bonuses to positions in those hospitals in an attempt to keep technicians employed there from moving to higher-paying jobs in Ontario.

After the technicians’ union (APTS), local politicians and healthcare advocacy groups all sounded the alarm that these bonus incentives would only draw technicians away from hospitals in Maniwaki, Wakefield and Pontiac to higher paying positions closer to Ottawa, the government offered $18,000 bonuses to technicians in those three rural hospitals.

Technicians in Wakefield and Pontiac were the last to get these bonuses, and the union is now saying they may have come too late.
Christine Prégent, Outaouais representative for APTS, said the government needs to offer equal bonuses across the region, or technicians will follow through on their plans to leave the Pontiac.

“One is going to Papineau, one to Gatineau, and the other three to Hull,” Prégent said in French, noting that for some, even the temporary $22,000 bonuses are not incentive enough to stay in Quebec.

“There are two in these five who are in the process of applying to jobs in Ontario as well, and could in fact quit CISSSO altogether.”

She said on Thursday members of the union met with the province’s Deputy Minister of Health Richard Deschamps for the better part of an hour and reiterated the same concerns they have been highlighting for months – that offering lesser bonus amounts to rural hospitals will lead to an exodus of technicians from those hospitals.

“For us it’s necessary the government finds a solution to keep the technicians in place,” she said.

Prégent emphasized that not only have the bonuses offered to Pontiac staff failed to retain them, but the $4,000 discrepancy will make it difficult for the hospital to recruit new technicians to the five soon-to-be-vacant positions.

By the APTS’s numbers, there are currently eight vacant positions at the Gatineau hospital, two of which will be filled by Sept. 9, and 14 empty jobs at the Hull hospital, four of which will also be filled by Sept. 9. In Papineau, there are 5 vacant positions, one of which will also be filled in September.

This leaves 20 empty positions that come with a $22,000 bonus that will still need to be filled after Pontiac loses five of its technicians.

“There are still job openings in Hull and Gatineau and Papineau,” Prégent said. “So why would I go give my CV to Wakefield, Shawville or Maniwaki, if I can go get a job in Hull and get a higher bonus?”

Pontiac MNA André Fortin said while equalizing the bonuses is a necessary immediate fix, it will do nothing to address the root cause of the staffing crisis across the Outaouais healthcare sector.

“They have to come to an understanding that if you want to keep healthcare workers from the Outaouais in Quebec, you have to pay them a similar amount to what Ontario pays them now,” he said.

THE EQUITY reached out to CISSSO to learn what the regional healthcare network is doing to prepare for the scenario where Pontiac loses these five technicians in just over a month.

“With regard to the situation of technologists, we are still in solution mode to address possible movements of technologists in partnership with ministerial authorities via the committee responsible for monitoring the implementation of bonuses,” a spokesperson for the network wrote in an email.

“The CISSS de l’Outaouais is addressing this situation as a matter of priority in order to provide care and services to the entire region’s population.”
Fortin said he is in regular contact with Quebec’s treasury board president Sonia LeBel to urge immediate equalization of bonuses.

“In my mind, a month is not the leeway the government has here. By a month from now, these workers will have rearranged their lives and schedules around a new job in a city, so the timeline for the government to change its decision [ . . . ] is actually much shorter than that,” Fortin said.

“You cannot go ahead with the basic services usually offered in a hospital with a single imagery tech, so if it comes to bear, this would cripple the functioning of our rural hospitals in the Pontiac and across the Outaouais.”

Union confirms imaging techs still plan to leave Pontiac Hospital Read More »

Q&A with new CISSSO CEO

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Sophie Kuijper Dickson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Former Armed Forces Surgeon-General now<br>leading Outaouais health and social services<br>Former Armed Forces Surgeon-General now<br>leading Outaouais health and social services

The organization responsible for delivering healthcare services in the Outaouais has new leadership.
Marc Bilodeau was hired as president and chief executive officer of the Centre intégré de santé et des services sociaux de l’Outaouais (CISSSO) last fall, and began his official four-year term in the position in January.

He was previously Major-General with the Canadian Armed Forces, serving as Surgeon-General.
Bilodeau said he had never been past Luskville, but will be making his first visit to the region in early March to meet with healthcare teams as well as elected officials and community partners.
THE EQUITY accepted CISSSO’s invitation for a 15-minute interview with Bilodeau to ask a few pressing questions ahead of this visit.
Questions and answers have been edited for clarity.

What is your general sense of the healthcare
challenges in the Pontiac region?

There are some challenges that are common to many of our rural areas in the Outaouais region. Obviously proximity to services, the long distances to drive to obtain access to care, a pre-hospital care service is always a challenge as well in remote areas because of the fact that we just don’t have enough ambulances to cover every single village.

Specifically for the Pontiac, there’s obviously a proximity to Ontario. I’m fully aware that many of our Quebecers have just decided to cross the river to receive care on the other side. I’m aware, obviously, that we’ve cut some services in the recent past, including the obstetrics, and
that has created some challenges locally. I’m still learning though. It’s my fifth week on the job and I’m still learning about trying to build a picture of what it looks like and how I can influence it more positively in order to keep providing the care that our citizens of the Pontiac deserve.

Does CISSSO have any plans to make it easier for senior and
low-income community members to access basic services locally,
including gynecology, urology and dermatology appointments?

This is definitely one of my objectives, to assess the needs of the population and make sure that I’m doing my best to support those needs, with the level of resources as close as possible to where they live.

Having said that, human resources in healthcare is a challenge and finding the right professionals that are willing to go to the Pontiac or to relocate there is not as easy as it sounds. We need to manage that scarcity of resources in order to make sure that we do the best we can to support residents of our remote or rural communities.

We need also to be creative in the solutions we are putting in place. You mentioned dermatology. That’s a very good example of services that are proven to be delivered very well virtually. So figuring out ways to make it easy for people, even for older people that are not familiar with technology, needs to be one of our objectives. That would avoid people traveling to the city, but also specialists from the city traveling to the Pontiac if it’s not required.

We lose a lot of our nurses to Ontario. What do you suggest should be done to retain these nurses in our own healthcare system?

As you know, there are some collective agreements being negotiated now at the government level, and there might be new tools in that collective agreement that would facilitate us keeping our nurses and other healthcare professionals on this side of the border.

And if not, then it’s my role to make sure that I’m making sure that the Minister of Health is fully aware of the unique context of the Outaouais region [so we can] work together trying to find solutions
Having said that, it’s not only about compensation, it’s also about work conditions. And for that, we have some levers internally to make sure that we’re making the work conditions as safe and as respectful and as enjoyable as possible, so that at least we can retain the people we have. We have many professionals that are passionate about what they do. All they want is to provide the best care possible to their patients. I think we have a pretty good base to build on with that energy that I’ve seen in our teams already.
All we need to do is be more creative in recruiting more, trying to work with our academic institutions in order to produce more locally as well, and ultimately be able to retain those people through the best work conditions possible.

Some Pontiac residents are worried we will continue to lose critical local services as Quebec’s new healthcare agency, Santé Québec, is rolled out. There are some specific concerns around the fate of the Fort Coulonge/Mansfield CLSC. Is there anything you can say to put these fears to rest?

I’m not tracking any specific challenges to that CLSC. Honestly, I’m new in the job and perhaps it hasn’t reached my level yet. Regarding the new reform, all I have to say is I don’t think it’s going to change significantly, the structure locally or regionally, in terms of how we provide care. There’s going to be even more focus on trying to have more local leadership like what Ms. Nicole Boucher-Larivière is providing to the Pontiac. She reports directly to me as the CEO here and she is my eyes, my ears and my hands on the ground, if you will, trying to make sure that I’m keeping my fingers on the pulse of the Pontiac region and not losing track of the challenges there. So the new reform would just reinforce that proximity of leadership that we’ve established in the last year here in the Outaouais. I think every change is an opportunity and I see that opportunity as an opportunity for us to do better. One of the big focuses of the new law is to improve access, quality and better coordination of services.

Last fall Pontiac saw the creation of a new CISSSO user committee, after six years without one. Some people involved are concerned the work they are doing to represent the healthcare needs on the ground in the region will be rendered useless under Quebec’s new healthcare agency, Santé Québec. Can you address these concerns?

I don’t think they’re going to be less important. I think, perhaps, the role will change a bit, and they are going to be given perhaps more importance. As you know, the current board of directors that we have to help me manage the CISSS de l’Outaouais is going to be transforming to a user committee instead, an institution committee if you will. There’s going to be one board of directors at the provincial level, and all of ours will be more local, to help us improve the quality of the care and make sure that we’re responding to the needs of the population. So I honestly see more opportunities for those committees to contribute, and I look forward to engaging with the users committee of the Pontiac, especially when I visit there in two weeks.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with
readers of THE EQUITY?

I’m here to do my best to improve the access and the quality of the care and social services that are being delivered to the Pontiac population, and ultimately do my best to improve the overall health of the population. We are facing many challenges from a demographic perspective that is making it very challenging to do, but at the same time this is my responsibility, and I sincerely hope that I can make a difference.

Q&A with new CISSSO CEO Read More »

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