Montreal’s homeless population using emergency rooms to warm up on cold days: report

Many Montrealers experiencing homelessness this winter are using hospital emergency rooms as backup emergency shelters.

According to a Radio-Canada report, Quebec’s association of emergency doctors says that more and more of the unhoused population arrive to the emergency room under false medical pretences, especially when it’s very cold, seeking a warm place to stay or somewhere to sleep.

The report revealed hospitals have been forced to add security guards and social workers to handle the rise in people without a home looking for some overnight shelter from the winter cold.

Many of the province’s overnight shelters and warming centres currently have little to no space available and are often forced to turn people away.

As a result, ER staff aren’t turning people away, as they may find themselves in a far more precarious state for their health if they are forced out on the street.

Last month, a 55-year-old homeless man was found unconscious in a public square in Montreal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and later died from suspected hypothermia.

Advocates working to improve the homelessness crisis argue that more shelters and warming centres are needed to prevent more preventable deaths.