Claude Migneault has been surviving thanks to a mechanical aortic valve for almost twenty years. He must take a blood thinner to prevent clots from forming on his device in the heart or elsewhere in his body. “I need a minimum blood test once a month,” said the 70-year-old Abitibi. I do not have a choice. »
Since last fall, the retired cattle farmer has had to travel 92 km to get his samples from the Rouyn-Noranda hospital and return to his home in Mont-Brun, a rural neighborhood far from the city center. Due to a lack of staff, the CISSS de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue has closed the Cléricy service point, located near his home, for an indefinite period.
Claude Migneault is so “unhappy” that he drove to Rouyn-Noranda to meet The duty and report the situation. He fears that this CISSS decision will become permanent and that the seniors of Mont-Brun will be left behind.
“There are elderly people who delay their blood test or their dressing change because they are afraid of going to the hospital and being contaminated. [par la COVID-19] “, maintains the burly man with sky blue eyes, very involved in his community.
The reductions or interruptions of health services have multiplied in Abitibi-Témiscamingue since the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-October, the regional CISSS closed the CLSC de Senneterre emergency room in the evening and at night, as well as half of the 44 beds at the La Sarre hospital. In both cities, citizens took to the streets to protest against these decisions.
Four months later, these measures are still in force. “It’s only temporary, but I can’t say how long it will last,” says the president and CEO of the CISSS de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Caroline Roy, who spoke with The duty in its offices in Rouyn-Noranda.
The return to normal will depend on the recruitment of staff, she explains. There is a shortage of 250 nurses in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. “We are one of the regions in Quebec that make the most use of independent labour,” she recalls.
Abitibi-Témiscamingue has been suffering from a glaring shortage of caregivers for years. A cancer that has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic – especially during the fifth wave – and which requires aggressive, even experimental treatments.
If nothing is done, some 500 nurses will be missing in 2026, reports Caroline Roy. She points out that the CISSS is multiplying recruitment initiatives (see box), but that it will not be able to do this alone. “We recruited people who, finally after a few weeks, chose either not to come, or to move because they had not found a house in the region, says the CEO, originally from ‘Amos. That doesn’t make any sense. »
The health network, she pleads, “needs the community”. It could even be, according to her, one of the keys to “rebuilding the system”.
Still, the Legault government could do more to help the region, believes the Interprofessional Health Care Union of Abitibi-Témiscamingue. By offering, for example, “regional disparity” bonuses to caregivers in Abitibi, as it already does for those in Témiscamingue and Outaouais. “It takes permanent salary measures, argues its president, Jean-Sébastien Blais, red tuque screwed on his head, mask on his face, on this mild February day. Once established, people won’t want to leave. »
great seduction
Communities are mobilizing to attract caregivers. Sylvain Trudel took part in the protest march in October to defend La Sarre hospital – the second demonstration of his life. He was able to meet the management of the CISSS. “We have realized that the CISSS can do a lot of things, but it does not clone nurses,” says the president of a firm of chartered accountants, pragmatically with his little round silver glasses.
In Abitibi-Ouest, 40% of the nursing workforce is missing. A major crisis, difficult to curb in remote areas. La Sarre, the most populated city with 7300 inhabitants, is at the “end of the world”, admits Sylvain Trudel. “The railway stops there! said the 60-year-old man, met on the edge of snowy Lake Osisko behind the Rouyn-Noranda hospital.
To reach La Sarre from the Laurentians, you have to cross the magnificent La Vérendrye wildlife reserve, an endless succession of forests and lakes, then head for Rouyn-Noranda or Amos and, once you reach one of these destinations, drive an extra hour in the shade of the spruce trees.
With fellow citizens, Sylvain Trudel set up a committee called “La Grande Séduction, c’est nous!” in December. “. The goal? Raise $500,000 to attract caregivers to Abitibi-Ouest through scholarships and installation bonuses.
” When we have [officiellement] launched the fundraising campaign on January 27, we had already raised $611,000! said the chairman of the committee. The spreadsheet now shows $685,000, and the target has been raised to $750,000. The committee already has in its sights a graduate in nursing who is doing an internship in La Sarre. “We pay him two months’ rent,” says Sylvain Trudel. He was given a godfather. In the hope that she will adopt their “hidden treasure”.
The City of Senneterre is fighting to reopen its emergency. Its mayor, Nathalie-Ann Pelchat, remains convinced that the death of a man, during the closing hours of the service, could have been avoided, which the CISSS denies. A coroner’s inquest is underway.
Thanks to a financial incentive program, the City recruited two nurses and a licensed practical nurse, who were recently hired by the CISSS. They will receive from the City up to $20,000 in vouchers that can be spent at all local businesses.
“With these three additional nurses, I told the CEO of the CISSS, ‘you no longer have any reason to say that you can no longer reopen the emergency room 24/7′”, indicates Nathalie-Ann Pelchat. , specifying that only one position remains to be filled for the staff to be complete.
The CISSS replies that it will assess the situation in mid-February when the fifth wave subsides.
The worst wave
Just two weeks ago, 44 patients with COVID-19 were hospitalized in hospitals in the region. A record. At the height of the crisis, 250 employees were absent. The situation has since improved.
“We are at level 2.” At the Rouyn-Noranda hospital, an inventory is broadcast every morning over the intercom. “Level 2 means that there are no free beds on the floors, but that there are few admissions to the emergency room, explains a manager at the Duty, who visited the hospital center. All in all, we are happy because we have often been at level 3. “
Self-management of schedules helped the Rouyn-Noranda hospital during the crisis. For about a year and a half, the head of emergency and intensive care has been organizing nurses’ schedules according to each person’s availability.
Thanks to this, Mylène Lefebvre recently agreed to upgrade her position from part-time to full-time. The mother of three children, in shared custody, initially declined the offer, despite the bonus offered by Quebec. “Depriving me of my children wasn’t worth $18,000,” said the ER nurse. His boss managed to offer him 8-hour and 12-hour shifts, depending on his weeks on duty.
After two years of pandemic, caregivers are nevertheless tired. “What makes the network hold is that the people on the ground have embarked, underlines, with misty eyes, the DD Nancy Brisson, assistant director of professional services at the CISSS. If those girls and those guys hadn’t done it, we wouldn’t have had care in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. They deserve far more than pats on the back, she says.