Northern Montreal reaches new stage of COVID-19 capacity; wave of surgery cancellations across province

One of Montreal's health regions has reportedly moved to the highest possible alert level in the province's health-care reorganization system, which means it's cancelling a maximum number of surgeries and other procedures.

The Nord-de-l'Ile health district, which covers Villeray, St-Michel, Ahuntsic and several other neighbourhoods, has cancelled half of its planned cardiac surgeries, among other measures, spokesperson Séléna Champagne told CTV News.

Champagne wasn't able to confirm on Monday afternoon which of the four alert levels the district had reached, with one being the least urgent and four being the most urgent.

However, another spokesperson from the same district told various media outlets the same day that it has reached Level Four, the highest possible level under the province's COVID-19 contingency plan for the Omicron wave.

It would be the first Montreal health district to reach this level. However, hospitals across the city are cancelling surgeries and making other dramatic reorganization to free up more beds and staff for COVID-19 patients, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Champagne said the Nord-de-l'Ile hospitals are still able to prioritize the most urgent cases.

"Elective surgeries (non-urgent surgery that can be postponed without endangering the patient) have been postponed," she wrote in a statement.

"However, all urgent and semi-urgent surgeries and oncology cases are being maintained. Day surgeries are being prioritized according to the severity of the situation."

This week, for example, the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur-de-Montreal is slated to perform 25 surgeries per day of the most ugent ones.

"Note that our trauma center mission is being maintained despite the COVID-19 situation," she added.

Other inpatients continue to be treated at the region's three hospitals, she said, though "our care units are very busy."

Quebec updated its protocol for the current wave in a document released on Dec. 30, laying out the four stages of urgency and guiding hospitals on how to prioritize beds and which procedures to cancel.

'NON-URGENT' SURGERIES CAN BE A MISNOMER, WIDOW SAYS

This kind of domino effect is happening across the province at emergency rooms and operating rooms.

And while the only surgeries being postponed are non-emergency, according to health authorities, such decisions can still lead to tragic results.

John Dufresne was supposed to get heart surgery last June, but it kept being put off because of COVID-19.

His widow says that the 74-year-old ended up waiting too long.

"He was never called in until his condition deterioriated, and he ended up back in hospital at the end of September," she told CTV News.

The Dufresne family feels that had he been operated on earlier, when when he was in much better condition, he would have survived.

LANAUDIERE, LAURENTIANS AMONG MOST AFFECTED

In Montreal, most emergency rooms are currently over-capacity except for the two children's hospitals. Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital and the Lakeshore are particularly hard-hit, outside of Montreal North.

Outside of Montreal, the regions struggling the most with hospital capacity right now is the Lanaudiere, which includes Le Gardeur and Joliette, and the Laurentians, where St-Eustache and St-Jerome hospitals are also way above capacity. 

On the South Shore, only Charles-Lemoyne hospital remains within its capacity limit.

Patients who are currently slated for surgery say the uncertainty is difficult. 

"Well I'm... stuck with anemia [and] I'm starting to wonder if it's getting more important, more urgent," said Nancy Martineau, who is scheduled for surgery this Thursday at Anna Laberge hospital.

"So of course the stress level will go up -- it's already been four months."

While capacity is generally measured in beds, what it really comes down to is staff available to fully care for those occupying the beds. What hospitals are lacking right now are doctors, nurses and other personnel.

Thousands of those staff members are off work with infections. However, experts say poor planning is really to blame.

"There are people that need to be held accountable," said Dr. Donald Vinh.

"Should this pandemic continue in the short term, medium or even long term, it cannot be the same advisors that have the government’s ear, becaue they have clearly failed."