The CISSS des Laurentides calls on private clinics to unclog its emergency rooms and catch up on its backlog of surgeries. As of October, the Laurentian Region Surgical Center (CCRL) will perform day operations and endoscopies on behalf of the healthcare facility. The UP pediatric emergency center, already present in Brossard, will open a new branch in Saint-Eustache in June to treat children in the region.
Approximately 4,000 day surgeries and 6,000 endoscopies must be performed each year at the CCRL. The CISSS plans to use four operating rooms to perform surgical procedures in various specialties (general surgery, plastic, vascular, orthopedic, etc.) as well as two endoscopy rooms. “It is the CIUSSS that will have control of what will take place with us”, specifies the Dr Patrice Makinen, co-founder of the CCRL, located in Saint-Jérôme.
This project is not new. The CISSS des Laurentides has indicated its intention to enter into a contract with the surgical center as of September 2021. However, the initiative had to be postponed due to a long delay in obtaining a license to operate a specialized medical center from the Ministry of Health and Social Services. “We waited 18 months,” says the Dr Makinen.
The file finally unblocked in February. “We had all stopped the construction of the rental development inside, continues the orthopedic surgeon, who practices at the Saint-Jérôme hospital. Since signing [du contrat], we spoke to the builder of the building who must tell us if we can open in October. That’s our plan. »
Thanks to this agreement, the CISSS des Laurentides wants to reduce its “significant” waiting lists for surgical procedures and endoscopy in the Lower Laurentians. The contract is for an initial period of three years, with a possibility of renewal for two years. “Specialist doctors will share their time between the hospital and the specialized medical clinic”, specifies the health establishment in an email.
In its notice of intent to conclude a contract, the CISSS des Laurentides recalls the state of “advanced dilapidation” of the facilities at the Saint-Jérôme hospital. Quebec has reserved $450 million for the modernization of the hospital center, in particular the surgical technical platform. However, “depending on the current deadlines and the overheating of the construction market, the end of the work […] is scheduled for the end of 2030,” writes the CISSS des Laurentides.
A pediatric emergency
Already present in Brossard, the UP pediatric emergency center will open a new clinic in Saint-Eustache on June 5. It will be accessible 365 days a year, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Parents will be able to make an appointment online for a minor emergency or come on site in the event of a more serious problem. Patients will be redirected from the emergency rooms of the Basses-Laurentides hospitals.
“We will always accept children with a broken arm, a laceration or a major asthma attack”, underlines the Dr Alexander Sasha Dubrovsky, pediatric emergency physician and co-founder of the UP center.
In addition to taking samples and imaging, the clinic will be able to offer oxygen therapy, a “treatment that is currently only done in an emergency room”, specifies, for example, the CISSS des Laurentides.
According to the Dr Dubrovsky, the model of the UP pediatric emergency center has already proven itself. It was launched as a pilot project in Brossard in 2019, in partnership with the CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre. “Lately, we have an average of 225 patients per day, over 12 hours, he says. 98% of patients are seen by the doctor within 90 minutes. »
The CISSS des Laurentides plans some 40,000 visits to the UP center in the first year of operation, 50,000 in the second and 60,000 from the third. The contract is for a period of five years, with a possibility of renewal for five years.
The establishment points out that the 0 to 17 year olds “represent 20% of the total population” of the Laurentians, “the largest population of young people in Quebec”. “The increase in this population is above the Quebec average, with 4.3%, unlike 2.8% for the entire territory,” we add.
The Coalition Santé Laurentides, which campaigns for better access to care in the region, welcomes these two initiatives, even if they involve the private sector. “What I want is to have services for my citizens,” says its president, Marc L’Heureux, prefect of the MRC des Laurentides. The important thing is that it must always be free for the patient and there must be accountability on how the operations are carried out. »
His group is calling on Quebec for financial catch-up in the Laurentians so that hospital infrastructures are renovated and adapted to the needs of the population, which has doubled in the past 30 years.