Cree patients transferred to Montreal due to forest fires near their communities are protesting that they had to give up their downtown hotel rooms to visitors who came to attend the Grand Prix. The body responsible for managing health care for this community, however, assures that it already knew that these rooms would not be available from June 14.
You should know that the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CCSSSBJ) has an annual agreement with the Espresso Hotel, where it rents a block of 120 rooms to house patients who receive health care at Montreal, including hemodialysis treatments.
But due to the forest fires, more patients had to be evacuated from three Cree communities on June 7: approximately 220 people in need of care, as well as their companions, must be accommodated in Montreal, which requires 160 bedrooms.
Hotel Espresso was able to temporarily house the additional evacuees, but in anticipation of the Formula 1 Grand Prix, its rooms were almost fully booked. The CCSSSB therefore kept its 120 rooms, but had to look for 40 additional rooms, while most hotels in town are full.
On its website, Hotel Espresso is still offering rooms for the weekend, at $615 a night for two double beds.
old hospital
The solution found by the CCSSSB: 20 rooms in a hotel in Terrebonne and 20 others at the former Hôtel-Dieu hospital, next to a building that has been transformed into a shelter for the homeless.
“We were ousted with my son’s machine. We were told to leave before 9 a.m., when my son just had an appointment at 9 a.m., ”commented on Facebook Lina Neeposh, who is one of the people relocated to Montreal.
“What a stupid place they sent us to, it looks like a prison inside and out. I would prefer to go home,” commented Clifford Mianscum on the same social network, about his relocation to the Hôtel-Dieu.
Dr. François Prévost, director of professional services at the CCSSSB, explains in an interview that it was the Red Cross that suggested that Cree patients be accommodated at the old hospital.
“It took us two blocks of 20 rooms together, in one place,” he explains. Since the patients are taken care of by the Cree council (meals, transportation, etc.), it would have been too complicated for them to be dispersed in different establishments.
Those receiving hemodialysis treatments must visit the MUHC every other day. Among the other evacuees are pregnant women and people with respiratory problems. Some have multiple health problems and use wheelchairs.
“We had to evaluate each file one by one to determine who could go to Terrebonne, or the Hôtel-Dieu, or stay at the Espresso hotel, depending on their state of health and their needs”, says Helen Belanger, director of Wiichihiituwin (Cree patient services).
Officials believed that some people might return after a few days to the three communities they come from (Waswanipi, Ouje-Bougoumou and Mistissini). However, the evolution of the fires did not allow repatriation.
“We have been on the alert for several days, we are reassessing the situation from hour to hour. But it has to be as safe as possible, especially for hemodialysis patients,” says Dr.r Prevost.
He says he hopes the situation is temporary and that the majority of patients can return home within a few days.