In a directive sent by CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest (CISSSMO) to the region's ambulance services on May 28, the emergency room designated for the towns of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Saint-Lazare, Les Cèdres and Pointe-des-Cascades has been changed. 

Ambulances from these four towns must now transport their patients to the Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire, rather than to the Suroît emergency room. 

In a communication sent to Néomédia, the CISSSMO explains that this decision is linked to “the decrease in the availability of independent manpower in order to rebalance the volume and reduce the pressure on hospitals in the Montérégie-Ouest region... These four municipalities were targeted, as the distance between them and the Lakeshore hospital makes it possible to maintain a safe service."

It should be remembered that the Quebec government has committed to abolishing the use of private agency labour by October 2026, and that in recent weeks, with the capping of agency rates, new contracts have become more restrictive, making access to these employees increasingly difficult. 

The new measure concerning ambulatory transport comes on top of the reduction in the hospital's activities, particularly in the temporary complex set up next to its emergency department.

While the number of ambulances in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region is already raising many questions, it goes without saying that paramedics are likely to be hard hit by longer transport and waiting times in already busy emergency rooms.

Representatives of both CÉTAM and CISSSMO were rather stingy in their comments on this ambulance reorganization. The CÉTAM confirms, however, that it was not consulted before the new measure was implemented. 

The CISSSMO assures us that the positive impacts of the redistribution are already being felt in terms of emergency room occupancy rates, and that there are no plans for other municipalities to be redirected to a hospital other than Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.