MONTREAL -- In the coming weeks, the Olympic skating rink at Place Bell in Laval, just north of Montreal, will be converted to house patients recovering from COVID-19.
The project aims to liberate hospital beds and to care for patients from long-term care homes and similar centres, where COVID-19 outbreaks have resulted in several deaths and a major shortage of health-care workers across the province.
Once approved by health officials, the site will be able to accommodate 50 patients. Private spaces that include beds, rocking chairs and lamps will be available for each person, and designated areas will be set up for staff as well.
“The needs of the users will be considered very carefully, with rigor,” reads a press release by Laval’s integrated health and social service centre (CISSS), which created the project alongside the Cité de la culture et du sport de Laval.
Personal protective equipment and medication for patients will be available on site in “sufficient quantities,” according to the release.
An opening date will be announced imminently – in the meantime, Laval’s CISSS has requested for the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail to visit the location, given the fact that it isn't normally used as a facility to treat patients.
