Châteauguay: influenza overwhelmed the emergency of the Hospital Anna-Laberge

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QMI agency

Thursday, 15 February 2018 20:30

UPDATE
Thursday, 15 February 2018 20:30

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CHÂTEAUGUAY – Montérégie put in place special measures to cope with the large increase in the number of cases of influenza.

On Saturday, a clinic dedicated solely to the influenza virus will open its doors in Delson, near Chateauguay.

More than one-third of the patients in bed Thursday at the emergency Hospital Anna-Laberge had symptoms of the flu.

One of them, Pierre Saint-Jean, was able to leave the emergency in the company of his wife, 24 hours after having been admitted. His stretcher was not free for long: as soon as cleaned, she was assigned to another patient.

It must be said that the occupancy rate of the emergency was 248 %, Thursday, at Anna-Laberge. “It is in 57 patients on a capacity of 23 stretcher to the permit,” underlined Marc-André Massé, chief of the emergency in an interview with TVA News.

Elderly

Patients who are bedridden are most of the time elderly people. They remain at the emergency in an average of 17 hours before leaving or having access to one of the 208 beds on the floors.

“I came three weeks ago at the hospital. I was doing a pneumonia, a large pneumonia. I am going to die. This is my second visit to the hospital,” said a patient, Dolores Countered.

To help reduce congestion in the emergency, the authorities have opened in the beginning of the week a unit of infinity with eight beds in the basement of the hospital. “It ultimately serves to ensure that these patients will not be in the corridors of emergency. There are places a little more appropriate for them,” said Dr. Massé.

It is most of the time very heavy. “Me, I slipped on the ice. I fell, and then I have the left side that is struggling, a lot of pain, has witnessed another patient, Micheline Perron. It makes me go radio to see if there is not something broken.”

Up to 40 people at a time must wait in the waiting room to see a doctor. “Sometimes, we will within 10 hours, 12 hours, maybe more times, agreed Mr. Massé. This is a case-by-case all day.”

It is recommended to those who can make it to the superclinique Delson or in groups of family medicine, where the waiting time will be shorter.

– According to a report from Harold Won