Emergency in Baikomo | “We need help!” »

2024-08-10 07:24:30

(Quebec) The labor crisis at the CISSS de la Côte-Nord is worsening, with the emergency capacity of Baie-Comeau (a town of more than 20,000 inhabitants) planned to be reduced to 5 stretchers. To the department heads who were crying for help, it was a disaster.

Updated August 10

what you need to know

The CISSS de la Côte-Nord is being affected by new laws aimed at eliminating the use of labor placement agencies.

As a result, the agency was forced to implement a service reorganization plan in the spring. Doctors have since increased their public appearances to denounce “hasty” political decisions. Minister Christian Dube promised to send a flying team as reinforcements.

Throughout the summer, conditions at the North Coast International Security Center remained precarious. The situation will be assessed every week. A new plan for the Baikomo district was unveiled on Friday.

“We need help!” », says Dr. Stéphanie Thibault, director of the emergency room at Le Royer Hospital, bluntly. The CISSS de la Côte-Nord presented a new restructuring plan on Friday based on the resources available in the coming days.

Agencies across the region have been plunged into a crisis since the spring as the government tightened rules on using independent workforces. On Thursday, 10 doctors from the region accused Quebec of “playing Russian roulette” with its population.

“What we offer is: Every time our patient is stabilized, we take them upstairs […] We will transfer them to other centers [à l’extérieur de la région] », expressed regret to Dr. Thibault. “More than five ambulances come here every day, […] In addition to the patient on site who needs a stretcher, observation…”, the doctor listed breathlessly.

The CISSS de la Côte-Nord said the Baie-Comeau emergency room usually has 10 beds. “But in recent years, we have worked like other centers [de la province] The capacity is 150%, 180%, which means 15 to 18 stretchers are occupied. The Baie-Comeau facility and the Sept-Îles facility are the largest in the region.

Baie-Comeau is more than 400 kilometers away from Quebec. Since the crisis began, at least fifty patients, including babies, have had to be taken outside for treatment.

“History in recent months has shown us that transferring patients is very difficult. […] We need an ambulance, we need an ambulance for five hours. It couldn’t have been organized in an hour,” the doctor lamented. She noted in passing that other facilities are also facing shortages, with some patients refusing transport altogether.

What we ask of the minister [de la Santé, Christian Dubé]just have a plan. What do we do, send out teams at 9pm, 10pm, with the 8th, 9th ambulance of the day, loaded with stretchers… when we no longer have room for them? [les patients]no more nurses to take their vital signs…what do we do?

Dr. Stéphanie Thibault, Director of the Emergency Room at Le Royer Hospital

On Friday, the minister’s office reiterated its “desire to ensure that the situation improves in the coming days” and to “maintain pressure” in this direction.

“Breaking down barriers”

North Shore doctor pleads with Christian Dube to ‘give [au CISSS] A means to break down administrative barriers to implement special solutions. Dr. Thibault did not want to go into details, but he confirmed that several solutions are currently being discussed, but they are hampered by an administrative maze and union rules.

“Someone on holiday got the call this morning. This is not a local problem and people are doing their best,” she pleaded.

She also explained that she didn’t want to “scare” people but wanted to inform them. “We want to mobilize. No one wants this plan. […] This is the only plan we have right now because we don’t have the support from the government to put resources and develop different plans,” she said.

In addition, the flights that Minister Dube promised to provide aid to the North Shore and Abitibi-Timiskaminge (areas particularly affected by the decommissioning of institutions) have been slow to deploy, while reinforcements have arrived sporadically. The latest report states that a total of 14 medical staff, including three nurses and four auxiliary nurses, have been deployed to the northern coastal region.

The CISSS de la Côte-Nord confirmed that plans are underway to “adjust emergency situations with five stretchers” for Baicomo. The measure will also increase the number of inpatient beds at Le Royer Hospital, the agency added, without specifying the exact number. It should be noted that some departments are affected by the reorganization of services elsewhere in the region.

Dr. Thibault said the controversial plan would be in effect from August 15 to 19. As of this writing, efforts to prevent this from happening are continuing.

“It is also planned to maintain close contact with the team at the Center for Optimization – Occupation of Provincial Intensive Care Beds to ensure the mobility of the Baikomo Emergency Department on the basis of adequate and safe capacity,” CISSS writes. This is a 24/7 7’s call center coordinates transfer requests for patients requiring intensive care.

1. Read “Doctors accuse Quebec of ‘playing Russian roulette’ with patients”

they say

Photo EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, Los Angeles Press Archives

Liberal health critic Andre Fortin

Patients are still paying the price for the lack of staff, which leads us to believe that either Mr. Dube came up with the idea without the means to realize his ambitions, or that he was just trying to smooth things over politically, as he well knows himself Won’t do that. To be honest, the idea was good and the need was there, but Mr. Dube did not do a good job of building the team.

André Fortin, liberal health critic

Photo EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, Los Angeles Press Archives

Vincent Marissar, spokesperson for United Health

After improvising and breaking promises of future help, the government is making dangerous bets for patients and showing a lack of transparency. Minister Dube’s repeated failures put people at risk and are unacceptable. I asked him to provide a true update on the deployment of this air force, which should have arrived on the North Shore to help respond to emergencies.

Vincent Marissal, spokesman for Health Solidarity

Photo EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, Los Angeles Press Archives

PQ health spokesperson Joël Arseneau

Flying Team, I don’t understand why we’re stuck at the negotiating table [avec les syndicats] This has been going on for two months and we are facing a crisis where our population is not being cared for or services are not up to par. […] A situation like this is tolerated only because it occurs in a region of Quebec supposedly far away from the main centres.

Joël Arseneau, PQ Health Spokesperson

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