MONTREAL -- Montreal’s emergency rooms were bracing themselves for an influx of patients on Saturday as icy weather approaches and facilities are already over capacity.
Staff at St-Leonard’s Santa Cabrini Hospital said they were anticipating a 20 to 30 per cent jump in the number of visits on Sunday, when a cold weather system hits the island following Saturday’s rainfall.
The hospital’s ER chief, Marco Charneux, said an intense strain of the flu already has a steady stream of people heading to the ERs around the city.
“This year is a pretty difficult season, every hospital is about 150 per cent,” he said. “People are doing as much as they can, but tomorrow we expect a surge.”
Charneux said many members of the public don’t often think of going to the recently opened winter clinics. Some in the Santa Cabrini waiting room said they weren’t aware of the clinics at all.
(For a full listing of the winter clinics, click here)
Mark Roper, the chief physician at the Queen Elizabeth’s clinic, said they offer a wide array of services.
“We can do casting and suturing. It’s a walk-in clinic but in between a walk-in clinic and an emergency room,” he said.
Roper said he’s worried of injuries to pedestrians and from car accidents on Sunday.
“We’ll see a few more ankle fractures tomorrow, I’m sure,” he said. “I would advise people, if it’s not necessary to stay at home.”
