2023-10-20 01:19:12
The emergency room at the Rimouski regional hospital is abnormally busy these days. So much so, that the CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent is asking the population to collaborate and avoid going to the emergency room unless it is really necessary.
Over the last 7 days, the average stretcher occupancy rate has remained at more than 155% with peaks of more than 200%.
According to data from the Index Santé site, Thursday followingnoon the occupancy rate was 117% at the Rimouski regional hospital. 14 stretchers were occupied out of a possible 12 functional stretchers.
Health authorities are therefore appealing to the population to prevent the situation from deteriorating.
“It’s a context in which we haven’t really experienced an overflow as significant as what we’re experiencing today. […] We don’t want things to get worse, we want to be able to always offer our services in a safe manner,” explained Claudie Deschênes, deputy CEO at the CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent.
Health authorities suggest citizens turn to other services; the family medicine groups (GMF) in the region for those who have a family doctor, the front-line access desk (GAP) for those who do not have one, Info-Santé 811 and finally, the pharmacists.
Cases of all kinds
Claudie Deschênes explains that fall is always a busy season in the emergency room, particularly because respiratory viruses circulate abundantly.
This year, however, traffic is much higher and the cases are very varied.
“These are all-round cases, as much in physical health, in mental health, as much at the level of the child, so really all cases combined,” she explained, specifying that it is impossible to target a virus in particular.
Reorganization
According to the CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent, the lack of staff is not the cause, but since the demand is higher in the emergency room at the moment, it puts pressure on the staff in place who are forced to reorganize.
“When we have twice the number of stretchers than we usually have, the staff must adjust,” she said.
The collaboration of the population is therefore requested to allow a return to normal as quickly as possible.
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