In full contractions, a resident of Matane, in the Bas-Saint-Laurent, says she had to travel nearly 100 kilometers to give birth in Rimouski, due to a break in the obstetrics service in her city. The parties in the electoral campaign propose to do everything to correct the situation.
“Tomorrow, being in Matane and getting pregnant, I would have an abortion,” says Myriam Diotte, with tears in her eyes. Almost a year after giving birth to her daughter, the 34-year-old is adamant she “never wants to go through” the stress of not knowing where she will give birth.
In 2021, the obstetrics service in Matane was interrupted 10 times, according to the CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent. As of August 24, 2022, there have been six service disruptions since the start of this year, which have forced women to give birth elsewhere than in Matane.
The lack of nursing staff specializing in obstetrics is in question, explains Gilles Turmel, spokesperson for the CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent. The lack of services has been occurring for a few years in Matane, “where the manpower problems are greater than in our other establishments,” he adds.
Myriam Diotte was a victim of this lack of personnel. On October 11, 2021, she began having contractions. A few days earlier, the Matane hospital had informed him that the obstetrics department had to close again.
She would then have been told that she would not be “left in the mud” and that she would be taken care of if her contractions started, she says, hugging her daughter.
However, on the evening of October 11, the staff of the Matane hospital was categorical: she had to go to Rimouski. ” They told me : [Ton col utérin] is just 2 cm dilated, she says. You have real contractions, your labor has started, but we don’t keep you. »
“I was bawling like a kind of degenerate, recalls Mme Diotte, while Charlie lets out a brief sob.
For lack of an option, the young woman says she had to drive herself to get to the Rimouski hospital. She was admitted there at midnight. Almost 10 hours later, she gave birth to her daughter.
“She is in good health, and I adore her,” said Myriam Diotte, adding that the nurses and doctors on site were “angels”. “But all the stress to get there, it’s disgusting,” she says, emphasizing the word.
Minimize disruption of services
Met in downtown Matane, Cindy Lefrançois recounts having narrowly escaped a break in the obstetrics service. On August 10, 2021, in the afternoon, the 27-year-old young woman started having contractions. She then went to the Matane hospital, where she was admitted. “I gave birth at midnight and 42 minutes and at midnight they broke,” she says.
Cindy Lefrançois admits having been lucky. The Matanaise “prayed very hard” to give birth before a break in services, she says, laughing. Even if Rimouski is a “good hospital”. “It is also to say, crime, are we going to surrender? Work can be done quickly. »
The CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent wants to be reassuring: in Matane, an obstetrics nurse and a doctor are always on call at the hospital, says spokesperson Gilles Turmel. “In the event of an emergency and the impossibility of transfer, the delivery could take place in Matane with the support of another doctor or a surgeon. »
Mr. Turmel adds that pregnant women who are 36 weeks or more are also notified as soon as a rupture occurs. “As a general rule, mothers-to-be who are about to give birth go to Rimouski and Rivière-du-Loup themselves. They will not do so a few minutes before giving birth, but often the day before since accommodation is offered to them. »
To be able to give birth in your city
For Myriam Diotte and Cindy Lefrançois, the women of Matane must be able to give birth in their own city without being threatened with having to go elsewhere. “Already at the end of pregnancy, we are more stressed”, underlines Mme The French.
In the context of the election campaign, when asked if politicians are listening, Cindy Lefrançois underlines the work of the outgoing PQ MP for Matane-Matapédia, Pascal Bérubé. “He will really speak for us. »
But the deputy cannot solve everything alone, according to Mme The French. “As far as hospital care is concerned, we all know that it is really catastrophic with the conditions, the overloads and the lack of staff. »
For her part, Myriam Diotte sent an email to Pascal Bérubé, then a PQ MP, on the very day of her delivery, almost a year ago, to describe what she had experienced.
“I had to drive my car myself in full contraction to Rimouski […] I found my experience extremely trying and I wonder what a mother of several children, or like me, a new mother who is perhaps not as well surrounded as me will do, ”she wrote.
For meme Diotte, it was not “a political opinion”, she just wanted to spare other women what happened to her.
Asked about this email, incumbent MP and PQ candidate Pascal Bérubé claims to have made numerous interventions in the media and in the National Assembly about service disruptions.
“What happened with M.me Diotte is regrettable, and I sympathize with her, he writes. […] It is not normal to have to move from one’s environment to give birth and to experience the stress that comes with it. »
Attract staff
If he is re-elected, Pascal Bérubé will lead “a major offensive” to attract nursing staff in order to avoid disruptions in obstetrics services, he says to the To have to. He will go to Montreal to “outright convince people to leave their regions, especially the metropolitan area, to come to us”.
He wants to bet on the lower cost of living in Matane. “The houses are much cheaper and you save time by not having traffic jams. »
Representatives of all political parties are indignant at the situation.
The Caquiste candidate in Matane-Matapédia, Jean-Sébastien Barriault, wants future mothers to be able to give birth near their homes, but “in a safe environment”. “Many efforts are being made to tackle the problem head-on by focusing on attracting, retaining and developing staff. »
On the side of Quebec solidaire, the candidate Marie-Phare Boucher affirms that it is “unacceptable that women have to go through this in 2022”. She points out that traveling so far in the middle of labor “can be dangerous”.
Monsef Derraji, of the Liberal Party of Quebec, maintains that if his political party is brought to power, it “will do everything” to avoid further service disruptions. “In particular, we will put an end to compulsory overtime for nurses,” he explains. The Liberals are committed to tripling the number of specialist nurse practitioners.
At the Conservative Party of Quebec, the press secretary of the leader Éric Duhaime, Cédric Lapointe, considers that it is “disappointing to hear that some women are forced to travel long distances to use basic services”. The party undertakes “to increase the supply of health services, in particular by putting an end to the public monopoly and by allowing mixed private-public practice”.