Montreal’s Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital sees back-to-back incidents affecting staff, patients

A power outage, a pipe leak: these are just some of the latest incidents that have affected patients and staff at Montreal’s Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in recent days.

It started with a pipe leak on Sunday. Videos were taken of the water coming through the coronary care unit and the aftermath of it. Towels lined the floor of the unit.

“The patients had to be moved from the coronary care unit — where you have patients with a significant heart issue, like critical conditions — they had to be moved to the medical intensive care unit because of the water leak,” said Dr. Marc Brosseau, respirologist-intensivist at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, as well as the president of the Council of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists at the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.

“There was water coming out from the ceiling, parts of the ceilings fell off,” Dr. Brosseau added. “It was very slippery on the floor. It’s not working conditions for the staff.”

Then, the power was out in the neighbourhood Monday because it was shut down by Hydro-Québec at the request of the fire department.

The CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal says backup generators took over to power critical activities, unlike when a storm in late April led to a power outage, leaving several critical units in the dark and delaying more than a dozen emergency surgeries.

“In the outpatient clinic, a lot of offices, the computers went out and there was no lighting,” said Dr. Brosseau. “Some surgeries were delayed as well because they didn’t want to start elective surgeries on backup generators, so it did have an impact on patient care, but the critical parts of the hospital were not affected as last time.”

But it meant a slowdown in certain hospital activities, affecting patients like Linda Duhaime.

“I’m doing treatments and was in a waiting room that had to relocate,” she said. “I waited at least 2 to 3 hours to get my appointment — when you’re being treated for cancer, you’re hoping to get out of there quickly,” she added, admitting her day “was not easy.”

The aging hospital has been in a dilapidated state and was thrust in the spotlight over the last few months after reports of power outages, rodents and other issues in the facility.

Faced with increased pressure, last month, the Quebec government responded by releasing the necessary funds to finance the renovation project in its entirety – with the first phase of the project, the multi-level parking structure, which will cost around $90 million.

Santé Québec tells CityNews in a statement that “preparatory work on the new hospital, including the construction of a multi-level parking garage, will begin this year. A call for tenders has already been launched.”

They add that this part is a “pre-requisite” for the construction of the new main building.

“There’s an urgent need to reconstruct the hospital and also have measures to ensure that we can treat patients well for the next 10 years of time the hospital has been rebuilt,” said Dr. Brosseau, who added that it’s going to be a challenge to keep treating patients under these conditions.

“We hope that the maximum is done to try to accelerate the project and also make sure that we keep the hospitals safe and functional for the next 10 years.”