Major union joins community effort to save Lachine Hospital services

A major Quebec union has joined the chorus of those wanting to save emergency room and ambulance services at the Lachine Hospital from being cut.

In February, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) decided to cut services at the hospital, eliminating ambulance services and closing the emergency room at 10 p.m. The plan was to close the ER at the beginning of March.

Lachine Hospital family physician Dr. Paul Saba said emergency room services re-opened 24/7 this week, but ambulances will still be directed to other hospitals in the city.

Not having ambulance services, Saba said, endangers those in the community who suffer heart attacks, strokes or other medical emergencies that require quick care.

"Studies have shown that when you close services to a community, including ambulance services, there's an increased mortality rate, especially for time-sensitive illnesses," said the former head of the council of physicians and the hospital.

Saba launched a petition to garner support for the hospital and halt more cuts.

The central labour union, the CSN, is supporting the petition and represents around 260,000 members, including 125,000 in the health and social services network.

"The population needs this hospital," the union wrote on its website.

More than 2,300 people have signed the petition to date.

"If the parents of our politicians lived within a few kilometres of this hospital, they would never even conceive of the idea of closing the ER down," wrote Barbara Z, who signed the petition.

The Lachine Hospital is run by the MUHC, which said that a family physician will remain on site 24 hours a day until the end of the month. After March 31, this function will be re-evaluated regularly.

"The modernization project of the Lachine Hospital is moving forward, and we are committed to its successful completion," said MUHC spokesperson Gilda Salomone.

Saba said the uncertainty around services at the hospital will not only stress out patients, but also affect hospital staffing numbers.

"We risk losing personnel, and the only people who will benefit from this is not the community. It's the downtown hospitals," he said. "This is totally unacceptable... As part of the MUHC, they should do everything to assure that we're a fully functioning community hospital."

MUHC employees union president Shiaman Diawara said the uncertainty at the hospital has caused his members to apply for posts elsewhere.

"Even if there's any availability of posting, they don't want to apply because they don't know if it's going to be closed or not, so there is a huge impact on my members," he said.

Saba said the hospital does not currently have a staff shortage, but that could change if the ambulance and ER situation isn't rectified soon.

He said the situation in Lachine is one that communities across Quebec will face, as smaller hospitals services are cut.

The Senneterre Health Centre in Abitibi-Temiscamingue, for example, had its emergency room doors closed in 2021 and then re-opened a year ago. During the closure, Richard Genest, 65, was rerouted in the ambulance to Val-d'Or, about 30 kilometres away. He died after a cardiac arrest. 

"We need to validate community hospitals, especially when we talk about doing and living within a community," said Saba.

The Ministry of Health said it is facing a labour shortage across the network, particularly in certain sectors.

"This challenge is even more pronounced in sectors that must provide care and services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (emergency, pre-hospital sector, obstetrics, etc.) and in regions far from major centres," said ministry spokesperson Robert Maranda.

Maranda added that the ministry has begun recruiting internationally, accelerated training, revising the organization of work and introducing various scholarship programs to build the workforce.

Saba said the province needs to rethink how it sees community hospitals so they can continue to thrive.

"There have been about 10 that have been partially closed in the past few years, and we have to change the mindset. Bigger is not better. Bigger does not replace community hospitals. All that we're going to have is worsening care at the cost of lives of the local citizens."