Lachine Hospital

Councillor slams ‘Save Lachine Hospital’ signs

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / July 19, 2024 / Dr. Paul Saba, Lachine Hospital, Maja Vodanovic, Micheline Rouleau

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

At the most recent public council meeting in Lachine, City Councillor Micheline Rouleau ventured out with an independent speech, not discussed by council, concerning the Save the Lachine Hospital citizens committee’s latest efforts to raise awareness about the non-existent ICU at the hospital by placing lawn signs on private property throughout the municipality. Rather than join the fight for a fully functional hospital, Rouleau gave a speech slamming the efforts.

“You are harming the population and yourselves [by putting up the signs],” Rouleau told attendees at the public council meeting. “I am asking a favour to all those who have signs in front of their homes to take them down because you are creating an incredible stress to the hospital employees, the patients and to the foundation because we need to collect $5 million by 2026 to buy things not provided by the government.”

Rouleau is the co-president of The Lachine Hospital Foundation which raises funds for the Lachine Hospital and stated the the signs were harmful to the fundraising efforts of the Foundation. “We (the Foundation) are moving forward while others are holding back and it is unhealthy. If people hear a bad reputation of the hospital, while there is not actually, everything is going well, then we will find ourselves with a lack of staff because people will have heard that it will not work,” she stated. Rouleau goes on to say that certain donors are holding back and telling the Foundation that they “won’t make donations unless the hospital will be a fully functional hospital.”

Lachine Mayor Maja Vodanovic, a long time supporter of the Save the Lachine Hospital committee and co-chair at the Lachine Hospital Foundation, was visibly surprised by Rouleau’s comments. When questioned about her reaction by The Suburban, she responded that “What Mme. Rouleau said at the council meeting was unexpected. It was not discussed prior in caucus and it took me by surprise. Although I believe Mme. Rouleau was well intentioned, she was not speaking in the name of the whole council.”

Dr. Paul Saba, who was honoured by the City of Lachine recently at a gala for his efforts towards the Lachine Hospital, says he was also shocked by Rouleau’s comments. “This is a collective effort, supported by the population, medical professionals and elected officials. A fully functional hospital requires an ICU and we are positively advocating for something that is beneficial to the hospital and to the patients. Lawn signs raising awareness is a positive effort. Anyone who advocates against a hospital having an ICU which is the heart of the hospital is advocating to put patients’ health and lives at risk and this is unacceptable. Studies have shown that ICUs save lives. What is more ‘stressful’ — having an ICU or not having an ICU? I don’t understand the purpose of advocating against the population’s determination to have an ICU in their local community hospital.”

The Suburban reached out to Micheline Rouleau, who did not respond for comment. n

Councillor slams ‘Save Lachine Hospital’ signs Read More »

Lachine doctor warns of “deeply concerning” failing ER stats

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / July 18, 2024 / Dr. Paul Saba, Emergency Room, Lachine Hospital, Montreal Economic Institute

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) published troubling results of its 2023-2024 study of Quebec’s Emergency Room (ER) statistics revealing that 11.5 per cent of visitors left this past year before receiving medical treatment.

According to the study, conducted over an 11-month period, the number of patients who visited ERs over the last year is 3.2 million with 377,404 patients leaving prior to receiving medical care, mainly due to lengthy wait times averaging 5 hours and 13 minutes in ERs across Quebec. The data collected in the study does not include the number of patients that were referred to another health-care provider outside of the ER at the time of their visit.

The study, headed by economist Emmanuelle B. Faubert, also reveals that 27.5 per cent of the patients that left the ERs were category P1, P2 and P3 patients, all of which are patients requiring urgent care. Over 70 per cent of category P4 and P5 patients seeking non-urgent care left the ERs without being treated.

Faubert says that any patient leaving the ER is concerning. “A patient who leaves without treatment runs the risk of worsening his or her condition and returning to the emergency department as a more complex case.”

Dr. Paul Saba, a family physician in Lachine, Quebec, is calling the study “a tragic commentary on our healthcare system”.

“Many patients don’t have a family doctor or have tried to go to a clinic (prior to visiting an ER), so this often is their last resort. Most people with benign conditions won’t wait so many hours to be seen by an emergency room physician,” Saba explained to The Suburban.

In his ongoing fight entitled “Save the Lachine Hospital” Saba says that this is just one of many examples of how the healthcare system is failing to provide necessary services that can save lives and shorten wait times. “With the ICU closed at the Lachine Hospital since December 2020, this exacerbates waiting times for our patients, not only here but on the rest of the island.”

Faubert says that in consideration of increased budgets and reforms, this is a major problem. “This is a big problem because it shows that our health-care system is incapable of taking care of Quebecers and it’s dangerous when you consider that the population is aging and needs are increasing.” n

Lachine doctor warns of “deeply concerning” failing ER stats Read More »