Yesterday, Health Minister Christian Dubé held a press briefing to discuss the situation in hospital emergency departments and the best ways to avoid bogging down the ERs. He invited the public to find help or information in other ways, to avoid overcrowding during the holiday season.

Alternative ways of avoiding the emergency room

Christian Dubé invites people with non-urgent health problems to treat themselves at home, to contact their family doctor (or family medicine group) if they have one, and to call 811.

He mentions that 28 winter clinics are now open, and that agreements have recently been reached with accommodation facilities that could free up hospital beds.

The public can consult Québec.ca for the various health services available. Enter the following link https://www.quebec.ca/sante in your search tool to go directly to the Health offer.

Situation in the region's emergency departments

Today, December 20, data show that occupancy rates at Suroît Hospital, Anna-Laberge Hospital and Lakeshore General Hospital are 156%, 153% and 200% respectively.

For Suroît and Anna-Laberge, nearly 70 people are waiting in the emergency department; of this number, around ten in each of these hospitals are waiting to see a doctor.

Average waiting times at Suroît and Anna-Laberge are over 5 hours for one and 10 hours for the other. The average time spent on a stretcher was similar at both sites, at 27 hours,

At Lakeshore, 85 people were waiting in the emergency department, including 16 waiting to see a doctor. Nearly 26 people had been on a stretcher for more than 24 hours, and 16 for more than 48 hours.

The average waiting time at Lakeshore General Hospital was over 7 hours. The average length of stay on a stretcher was 42 hours.

New Covid variant

At yesterday's press briefing, Dr. Luc Boileau, National Director of Public Health, pointed out that JN.1, a new Covid-1 sub-variant, is gaining ground. He estimates that there are currently over 40,000 cases of the virus.