The Gleaner

More orthopaedic surgery in Ormstown

le mardi 30 mai 2017
Modifié à 0 h 00 min le 30 mai 2017
Par Eric Tremblay

etremblay@gravitemedia.com

In comparaison from 2016, 125 additional orthopaedic surgeries have been carried out at the Barrie-Memorial Hospital so far. The purchase of specialized equipment has made it possible to reduce wait times to less than a year at the hospital in Ormstown.

The ministry goal has now been achieved, which was far from the case in April, 2016. "The technical support centre was underutilized," indicated Dr. Paul Moise, Assistant Medical Director-second line. The team needed to understand the issues. Nursing personnel and respiratory therapists took refresher courses and doctors changed their schedules."

Purchasing the specialized equipment for $312 000 means that three operating rooms are outfitted with state-of-the-art technology. This purchase was made possible by the Women's Auxiliary and the Barrie Memorial Hospital Foundation. The ultimate goal is to be performing surgeries three days per week. "We would like to reach a 70% occupation rate," continued Dr. Moïse. "The best hospitals reach 83%."

To achieve the objective, more personnel will be needed, in particular anaesthetists. The hope is that new recruits will be attracted by the enhanced operating rooms at the Barrie-Memorial.

"We hope that the hospital can continue to offer local and quality health care services to the benefit of not only everyone living in the Haut-Saint-Laurent region, but also the entire CISSSMO territory," stated Louise Rollin, President of the Women's Auxiliary.

Regional dynamic
The1 25 additional orthopaedic surgeries performed to date in 2017 allows for doubling the number of surgeries for the same period.

The Barrie-Memorial specializes in this type of surgery. General surgery is also performed. Increasing Ormstown's capacity frees up time-slots at the Suroît and Anna-Laberge hospitals for more serious cases.

These positive outcomes are a result of reorganizing the centres as a whole at the three hospitals in the Centre intégré de santé et services sociaux de la Montérégie Ouest. "Creating a network permits a dynamic in which we can have an anaesthetist from the Suroît, a surgeon from Anna-Laberge and a patient from Ormstown," explained Yves Masse, CEO of the CISSSMO.

For Huntingdon MNA Stéphane Billette, this is an important day for the Barrie-Memorial. "Everyone in the region should be proud of this announcement," he said. "It's a major shift and a wonderful demonstration of solidarity."

(Translated by Cathleen Johnston)